Eureka Shorts
by emcey squared
Summary: A collection of one or two-shot Eureka stories featuring the Jack/Nathan pairing and written by either Emcey Squared or KitKatt0430.
1. Aftermath

Disclaimer – I don't own Eureka. Damn…

September 1, 2010 - Kit's gone through and edited for grammar and spelling errors, so now there are fewer annoying flaws in the stories. :)

Summary – Nathan never expected, as his world was falling apart, that Jack Carter would be the one to put him back together again.

Info – Season 2 AU

Pairings – Jack/Nathan

_**Aftermath…**_

_After 2x01_

After Kim's death, Nathan wanted nothing more than to leave Eureka. He felt responsible because his obsession with the artifact led to the experiment that she'd died in. When he lost his position as Director of GD, there had been a feeling of relief. The reigns could be passed over to Allison and he could relax.

He could sleep in, wander the town, and pretend that he didn't feel like his world was slowly ending.

Despite the fact that he survived the radiation that should have caused him to combust, Nathan felt as though he was dying inside. It had been building up for awhile. First Callister died, followed shortly by the finalization of his divorce from Allison and that fiasco with the nanoids. Then the pollen that released inhibitions swept over the town. Nathan had been relieved that no one, not even Allison, had thought there might be a darker explanation as to why he'd been trying to access the artifact. His motivation hadn't been to kill himself, but the fact that he would have died in the artifact chamber hadn't incited any feelings of self-preservation either.

Henry's decision to leave Eureka had hit Nathan like a physical blow. So when SARAH – or BRAD, really – had trapped him with Henry, Nathan had done his best to convey to Henry that leaving Eureka wasn't the solution to Henry's problems. His old mentor wasn't listening, though, and that hurt even worse. Screwing up his experiment and getting several scientists killed, almost including himself, was nearing the final straw.

Something had to give before he broke under all the weight…

So when Jack Carter sat down at the two person table that Nathan had been sitting at – brooding over his problems – it came as a great surprise.

"Why is it that you're always alone when I see you here?" Jack asked, skipping over the pleasantries that probably would have led to Nathan snapping at the smiling sheriff.

The question was odd enough that Nathan almost didn't snark at him. "I like the quiet. Take that as a hint."

Carter just smiled that slightly lopsided grin of his. "Do you like football?"

"What? No." Nathan glanced down at his plate, surprised to find that his lunch was finished.

"What about baseball?"

"Where are you going with this, Carter? Just get to the point."

"I'm just curious, I suppose. So… do you like hockey?"

"Basketball…" Nathan said after a few moments. He wasn't sure why he was giving in to the other man's questions. "I like basketball."

"Basketball is my sister's favorite, too. She used to kick my butt at 'Horse' during the summer." Jack's smile was infectious and Nathan could almost imagine a younger version of Carter playing with his sister.

"I wanted to play on the team in high school, but I was too young. The coach wouldn't take me seriously," Nathan admitted. "I wasn't that bad, though. At the very least, I was better than the worst player on the team."

"Do you still play?" Jack tilted his head to the side; he appeared genuinely curious.

"I've got a hoop over my garage, but I haven't used it since moving back here. What about you?" The words spilled out, unbidden, and Nathan mentally told himself to get rid of Carter before the conversation went any further.

"I haven't played since I moved here from LA," Jack responded. "In fact, the last time I did was when my sister, Lexi, last visited me."

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask about Lexi. Nathan had no idea where the sudden curiosity he was feeling came from, but he didn't intend to follow through on it. "I have to go," he said, getting up and walking away.

Nathan glanced back before stepping through Café Diem's door. Jack was staring at him speculatively with an intensity that had never, to Nathan's knowledge, graced the sheriff's face before.

For the first time in days, Nathan began to think that maybe life would start to look up soon.

_After 2x02_

The weekend after his conversation with Jack about basketball, Nathan tuned into a game on his TV. It was the first time since returning to Eureka that he did so and about halfway through the game Nathan made some popcorn and grabbed a beer. In a way, he'd forgotten just how much he enjoyed unwinding like this. Basketball didn't require thinking too hard; as the players ran across the court, Nathan could let his mind relax.

When the game was over, the team he'd been rooting for had lost. It didn't matter, though, because he'd enjoyed watching anyway… and he had Jack Carter to thank for that, ironically enough.

So a few days later, when Jack asked Nathan to help save Fargo, he let the sheriff cajole him into helping without fussing too much at the start. Making snarky comments to Jack had been amusing from the get-go, but he'd had more fun that day than usual. Even more amusing was when Carter briefly hopped behind him to avoid the ultra-sonic fishing-rod.

Except… now that he was sitting alone, having dinner, at Café Diem, Nathan was starting to wonder if he'd crossed the line a few times from snarking to… something else. In all honesty… there was a few instants where what he'd said could have been taken as flirting. Carter had taken most of it with a confused air until the very end, when Nathan was fairly certain that Jack had returned the flirting in kind.

It was all unintentional on both sides, though. Nathan wouldn't consider any other possibility.

"Allison tells me you've decided to stick around GD after all," Jack observed, taking a seat across from Nathan much the same way he had a lunch just a few days previous.

"Disappointed?"

"Well, I'll have to cancel that party I was planning," Jack joked with a smile. "Actually, after today I'm rather glad you're staying."

"Really? Somehow I doubt that," Nathan drawled, his half-eaten dinner forgotten. Messing with Carter was infinitely more interesting than food.

"Think what you like." Carter shrugged dismissively, as though he didn't care whether Nathan believed him or not. "Aside from being afraid for Fargo, today was actually kind of fun."

"Fun? You have an odd definition of the word, Sheriff."

Jack's blue eyes sparked mischievously. "Oh, so you didn't enjoy getting to play with the goo-gun?"

"That was…" Nathan trailed off and shrugged. "Okay, that was fun."

"Normally when these disasters are over, you look like you have a migraine and are five seconds away from maiming someone. Today, though, you smiled more than I've seen since meeting you."

"I smile a lot," Nathan protested, despite how childish he sounded. "I thought Federal Marshals were supposed to be observant."

"No, you smirk a lot. There's a difference between the two." Jack paused and then added, "and I am observant. More so than you probably realize, I'd bet."

"You think I underestimate you," Nathan remarked.

"Well, don't you?" Nathan quirked an eyebrow at that statement, so Jack elaborated. "When those section five scientists were hopped up on the super-speed drug, you dismissed my investigative work regarding the cause of death of the scientist involved in the hit-and-run, belittled my intuition when I came to the conclusion that the other scientists involved in the project were juicing as well, and automatically assumed that I had no idea what I was doing when I went to interrogate one of the suspects. That sort of behavior is typically referred to as 'underestimation' and is something you do a great deal of.

"At least, before today."

"I'm not different today than any other day," Nathan objected. "So unless my smiling more makes me somehow less apt to underestimate you…"

"No, you were different today. My first priority is never GD and, today, it wasn't yours either. You didn't have to worry about covering GD's ass or what the bureaucrats, who don't know what it's like to live here, would decide to do in response to this incident. All you had to be today was a scientist, which is exactly who you are. Because of that, you didn't dismiss me as being some sort of 'loose cannon' or whatever term you want to use."

"That's… actually fairly accurate," Nathan admitted unhappily.

"Anyway," Jack changed the subject, looking faintly uncomfortable, "I just wanted to let you know that I think you made the right decision in staying. We may not get along well, but even I have to admit that Eureka needs you to stay." He stood up and edged away from the table. "I should get going. If I don't have dinner at home tonight, SARAH will pitch a fit and lock me out."

Watching Jack walk off, Nathan thought about what he'd just been told and, without really intending to, began reevaluating his opinion of Carter. Perhaps there was more to the 'average' guy in Eureka than met the eye…

_After 2x03_

Nathan almost didn't notice Jack sitting in one of the shadowed booths of Café Diem when he went in to grab some vinspresso before heading home for the night. On a whim, he went over and sat across from the sheriff, who seemed to be in a dreadful mood.

"Having a bad day?" Nathan asked curiously.

"Monumentally so. I must have pissed off _someone_," Jack glanced up at the ceiling briefly, "very much to deserve this."

"Deserve what? Aside from cause you a little embarrassment, your ex-wife doesn't seem all that bad." Nathan smirked as Carter scowled.

"Bad, huh? She's somehow managed to take over the guest room instead of staying at Beverly's and starts a fight with SARAH every time they converse. Because of Abby, I can't stand being in my own house because when she isn't arguing with me she's yelling at my house. And on top of that she's… taking Zoe away when summer comes around. Once that happens…" Jack trailed off for a few moments before finishing, very quietly, "I won't get to see Zoe until the next summer and probably for only half of it if Abby gets her way."

Losing Zoe like that was about the cruelest thing Nathan could imagine anyone doing to Jack. Nathan didn't know much about the Carter family dynamics, but he knew that Jack considered his daughter to be the most precious person in his life. Just thinking about the young girl reminded Nathan of the way Carter had wrecked a baseball bat by attacking a small nuclear generator just to save her; his actions that day had spoken volumes about his dedication to his daughter. The sheriff would be a different man entirely with his daughter gone.

Abby Carter had no right to wreck Jack and Zoe's lives like that…

"I'll be right back," Nathan said, getting up. He walked up to the bar and convinced Vince, who was too surprised to put up much of a resistance, to give him two beers and then returned. Setting one in front of Jack, Nathan kept the second for himself. "You look like you could use it."

Carter nodded and took a drink. "Thanks."

"Isn't there something you can do to stop her from taking Zoe away permanently?" Nathan drank some of his own beer as he waited for a response.

"Abby and I had an agreement. Originally, Abby was supposed to get her during the school year and I'd have winter and summer breaks. But then Zoe ran away to Eureka and Abby and I changed the agreement. At the time… I didn't realize how much circumstances would change." Jack's voice was morose. "So, no, there isn't really anything I can do to stop Abby."

"I love Kevin as though he is my own son and I know that if Allie ever restricted my ability to see him like that, I'd be devastated," Nathan offered.

"Yeah, well, Abby's barely gotten to see Zoe since she last ran away from LA. Either way, one of us winds up missing out on her most of the year." Jack sighed and turned his attention to his drink.

"I'd help if I could," Nathan admitted after a moment.

"You're listening and being nice. You're helping a lot," Jack responded and smiled at Nathan.

Even though it wasn't the bright smile that Carter usually beamed, Nathan felt as though he really had managed to help the other man. He also felt… well, it had to be the half-a-beer talking because Nathan Stark's heart did not race because of Jack Carter and he did not get a faintly giddy feeling because of the man either.

It just did not happen.

_After 2x04_

Allison knew something was up. In fact, she seemed to know more about it than Nathan did, judging by the expressions she'd worn on her face when she'd watched Nathan work that day.

The day had started off in a fairly innocuous manner. Nathan had woken up from a dream involving Jack Carter and a very intense kiss, which had become normal since their last major conversation at Café Diem. (After the third night, Nathan had managed to admit to himself that he had feelings for Jack, but had no intention of acting on said feelings.) He'd gone in to work and begun catching up on a little paperwork that he'd been letting slide just because he knew it wouldn't pile up anymore.

Then Jack was brought in with his mind trapped inside the video-therapy device. Nathan had thrown himself into saving Jack. Every time he looked at Carter, Nathan felt helpless and he hated it more each time. He'd been so afraid that Jack would die, again, and that this time there would be no Carlson to bring him back to life.

Since Nathan decided to stay on at GD, Jack had been seeking Nathan out at lunch every other day or so and they'd talk about non-work related things. Their conversation about Abby taking Zoe away, however, had been the first time that Nathan sought Jack out instead of it being the other way around. Since then, they'd had lunch together every day.

It was strange how quickly Jack's presence had grown on Nathan.

Allie didn't seem surprised at all by Nathan's reaction to Jack's predicament with the virtual reality device. In fact, she seemed to have expected it, though she had looked a bit disappointed when Nathan ran off when Jack woke up. The truth was Nathan didn't think he could bear to watch Jack, Zoe, and Abby acting like a family while he felt the way he did about Jack. He'd simply gotten out of there before he got hurt. Except it happened anyway because he couldn't help but imagine the happy, handsome picture the three blondes made.

So Nathan went home and felt sorry for himself. At least, that was what he was doing before the doorbell rang.

Opening the door, Nathan was surprised to see Jack standing on the front steps. "Should you be up already?"

"I feel fine," Jack waved his hand dismissively. "Really, I do," he added when Nathan gave him an incredulous look.

"Come on in," Nathan invited Jack inside. Once the door shut behind Carter, Nathan asked, "what brings you here?"

"Well, uh… Allison told me how you were there the entire time, trying to find a way to get me out of there and I wanted to thank you."

"You don't need to; I couldn't do anything in the end." Nathan led Jack over into his living room and gestured for Carter to have a seat on the couch. Jack stood instead, though, and moved to be right next to Nathan. "I was useless."

"You weren't…"

"You almost died, Jack!" Nathan interrupted. "All I could do was watch you fight that thing and, as far as anyone could tell, you were losing. You always seem to find a way to save Eureka, and me, when there's trouble… so why is it I'm always the one who doesn't know how to save you?"

Carter smiled and tilted his head to the side. "Nathan… you called me Jack," he drawled happily and, before Nathan could process that comment, kissed the scientist.

For a moment, Nathan froze in surprise. Then, taking in just what was happening, Nathan kissed back. His mouth parted slightly, enough for his tongue to seek entrance to Jack's mouth while his hands landed on Jack's hips, pulling the shorter man closer.

_After a year… give or take a few days_

Nathan snuggled closer to Jack in their bed in the bunker. Tomorrow they were leaving for a week-long cruise: their honeymoon. Sometimes it was still hard to believe the way things had turned out between the two of them, but Nathan firmly believed the two of them had earned this happy ending together.

When Abby left a few days after Jack's encounter with the virtual version of Eureka, she'd finally made concessions to Jack concerning Zoe's living arrangements. Zoe went back for summer and winter vacations, spending the school year in Eureka. Jack had been publicly ecstatic and he'd shared that enthusiasm with Nathan in a very… private way.

A few weeks after that, Jack told Zoe about his new relationship with Nathan. At first she'd been wary of the snarky scientist and warned him that she had been an accurate shot since the age of ten and knew where her father kept his gun… and where Jo kept all the fancy guns. She warmed to Nathan quickly, however, when she saw how happy they were together.

Allison won 145 dollars in a town-wide bet when they came out to Eureka after dating for about a month-and-a-half. Kevin asked Zoe if they were going to be siblings. The Blake family was clearly quite pleased with the development between the two men.

Henry, oddly enough, had been the biggest stumbling block. After Jack's brief encounter with invisibility, however, Henry came around. The mechanic had insisted at the time that he'd withheld judgment for so long because he was afraid they'd hurt each other but could now see how much the two were in love. Nathan had his doubts about that, though he refrained from commenting on them to anyone. If Henry wanted to be mysterious it was his prerogative.

To everyone's surprise, Nathan and Jack managed to make their relationship work. They still fought a lot, but that was a given. As time passed, Nathan found himself falling more and more in love with Jack until he finally asked for Jack's hand in marriage.

Jack said yes immediately and the time following the proposal was a whirlwind of planning. Henry preformed the ceremony and then made a speech at the ceremony that was a little embarrassing, a little nostalgic, and altogether touching. Nathan also met Lexi Carter, Jack's sister, for the first time that day.

A little over a year ago, in the aftermath of the artifact's explosion, Nathan had felt like his world was over. Now, though, he knew better. His life with Jack had been just beginning.

A/N – That was fun. :) As for Henry being a 'stumbling block', consider that not long before this, future-Jack had told him about how future-Jack had been married to future-Allison. Henry was worried about broken hearts.


	2. Mistletoe: A Christmas Cliche

Disclaimer – I don't own Eureka.

A/N – I am actually not Emcey_Squared. I am KitKatt0430. Here is one of my presents to Emcey for this Christmas, which I have given to her to post in any way she sees fit.

Summary – A few days before Christmas, Eureka is having its annual Christmas party and gift exchange. Having finally come to terms with his feelings for Jack, all Nathan wants for Christmas is the Sheriff. Fortunately, all Jack wants for Christmas is Nathan Stark…

September 1, 2010 - Kit has gone through the stories to edit the grammar and spelling.

_**Mistletoe: A Christmas Cliché **_

Nathan had overseen the initial decorating of the dance hall and had personally ensured that there was no mistletoe hanging from the ceiling. By personally ensuring, of course, it is meant that when Allison, Zoe, and Lexi brought the mistletoe inside, Nathan took it all out and had the evil things burnt by Zane, who was more than happy to help for a little extra in his Christmas bonus. Zane claimed to need the extra cash in order to afford both a shiny, expensive necklace and a shiny, explosive-shooting weapon for Jo.

Apparently Jo liked shiny things.

Having never been fond of clichés, Nathan particularly hated mistletoe, especially considering that Allison had a penchant for using it to play matchmaker. Nathan had recently formed a friendship with Jack Carter only to realize that he'd fallen in love with the Sheriff. Allison, being the observant person that she is, noticed almost immediately and had begun trying to set the two up. It quickly became her hobby.

Unfortunately, Jack did not seem to return Nathan's affection… or was simply very dense when it came to interpersonal relationships.

Allison had, to date, locked the duo in a closet, dosed them in a chemical that required them to remain in one-another's presence for twelve hours before it wore off, and had most likely rigged the gift exchange… for the fourth year running. (The last few years had involved various couples that were now either married or engaged.) Judging by the looks on her fellow mistletoe-conspirators, Allison had apparently roped Zoe and Lexi into her plotting; this development was really only good because it meant they approved. The family's approval was always a good thing to have.

All in all, Nathan was very worried about the party, especially the part where Jack would open the gift Nathan had gotten for him.

About an hour before the party started, however, Nathan was recalled to GD. There was an explosion in one of the labs and slightly noxious foam was released. By the time everything was sorted out, the party had been in gear for about thirty minutes and Nathan really wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep. Instead, Allison called Eva Thorne and got the redhead to shanghai Nathan's car and force the man to show up at the party by bribing him with freshly brewed vinspresso.

Walking through the door to the dance hall, Nathan was greeted by a mischievous looking Jack Carter while Thorne cautiously edged through the door and escaped into the crowd. Just as Nathan was about to ask Jack what was amusing him so much, Jack pointed up at the ceiling. Nathan's eyes drifted upwards and alighted upon a solitary sprig of mistletoe hanging innocuously just in front of the doorway. If looks could kill, the glare Nathan aimed at Allison as she smiled and waved from the buffet table would have left an Allison Blake shaped carbon smear on the wall.

Nathan's attention, however, was quickly diverted by Jack. Latching onto Nathan's tie with one hand, Jack tugged Nathan's head down slightly, balanced his other hand on Nathan's shoulder, and proceeded to soundly kiss the scientist. By the time Nathan had processed all of that, the sneaky sheriff was wandering over to talk to Zoe and Nathan was left to stand there under the mistletoe in a daze for a few more moments.

Maybe clichés weren't so bad after all…

* * *

Jack grinned as he opened his present from Nathan.

It was finally time for the gift exchange. After kissing Nathan, Jack had been flitting away from the scientist and generally driving him crazy. Carter was always just out of reach and Nathan was getting antsy. There were a thousand questions he wanted to ask and he also had an intense urge to drag Jack back under that mistletoe in order to snog the other man senseless.

But now… Jack's expression morphed from a grin to a smile of pure delight as he began flipping through the picture album Nathan had compiled. After searching through hours of security footage, Nathan had made a photo album chronicling the lives of the Carters since their arrival in Eureka. The majority of the pictures were of Jack, followed by Zoe, who had the second highest amount. There were quite a few of Lexi in there, though. Lexi's pictures, however, tended to have Fargo in them too.

"Nathan, thank you." Jack beamed at Nathan, making Nathan's heartbeat go up a few notches. "This is really thoughtful… it must have taken forever to put together."

Blushing slightly, Nathan smiled back. "It was well worth the effort, Jack," he assured the sheriff. "I'm glad you like it."

"Um…" Jack shyly handed over a slim package. "Merry Christmas, Nathan."

Carefully opening the package, Nathan's eyes lit up at the sight of a picture of Callister in a beautifully crafted wooden frame with the words _Father and Son_ inscribed along the bottom. The picture was from before Callister had been forced to leave Eureka and Nathan was standing beside the blonde AI, his arm around Callister's shoulders and a smile on both their faces. "How… how did you find this?"

"Oh, I have my ways," Jack demurred. "You, uh… you like it, right?"

"I love it, Jack," Nathan declared. Setting the picture frame down on top of the photo album, Nathan leaned over and kissed Jack. After a few seconds, Jack was enthusiastically kissing back.

Score another for the almighty match-maker: Allison Blake.

A/N Allison, Zoe, and Lexi bribed Zane with helping him spring his surprise gifts on Jo in order to rescue a few sprigs of mistletoe, which were then placed in strategic points in the room. As for how they got Eva to help… well, we all know she's a closet romantic at heart.

Merry Christmas, Emcey. ^_^


	3. The Other Side of the Coin

Disclaimer – I own shiny things… but _Eureka_ is in a class higher than shiny things so I don't own _Eureka_.

A/N – Emcey has returned… with a somewhat confusing story.

Summary – When alternate reality versions of Jack Carter and Nathan Stark show up in Eureka, the two seem suspiciously friendly. The real Jack and Nathan are the only ones who suspect a hoax and, reluctantly, team up to prove their doppelgangers are fakes. Only they had no idea what they were really going to find out…

September 1, 2010 - Kit went through and did a little editing.

_**The Other Side of the Coin**_

The Other Nathan Stark and the Other Jack Carter simply couldn't be who they said they were. They smiled at each other and agreed and… and…

Jack had a crush on Nathan Stark that dated back to the day after they'd met, when Stark had been in the infirmary with his shirt open. Staring – and trying not to – at Nathan's chest, Jack had been so flustered by the man that he'd inadvertently started their rivalry over Allison, who Jack had also been interested in for a time. After the incident with Callister, Jack's feelings for Nathan had ratcheted quite a few notches, but he'd followed that up with the snafu involving the nanoids that had wound up with Jack kissing Allison and generally screwing up his chances with Stark.

A few weeks later, the fubar occurred during the sampling of the artifact which led to scientists spontaneously combusting right and left. Fortunately, Nathan was saved; unfortunately, Stark had decided to leave Eureka. Had Stark followed through on that decision, Jack would have pursued his feelings for Allison. Except… Nathan stayed because of the incident with Fargo and the shield device.

Jack attempted to get to know both Nathan and Allison better after that in order to get a better hold on what he felt for the duo, but Allison was drifting away, becoming more of a politician. Though he remained good friends with her, Jack's stronger feelings for her faded away as he realized there was a side to her that he simply could not – and did not want to – abide with. It wasn't that she did anything terrible or acted differently, it was that… Jack couldn't really explain _what_ it was, just that _it was_.

On the other hand, Jack got to know Nathan better. Stark was even behaving nicer towards the Sheriff. However, the scientist's derogatory attitude towards Jack didn't really fade. It was obvious that Nathan didn't like Jack and that fact would never change.

So there was no way that the Others could be friends. Except, Other Jack and Other Nathan _were_ friends and Other Nathan clearly did not hate Other Jack.

Refusing to admit to his jealousy, Jack had instead decided that the doppelgangers had to be fakes. When Nathan approached him with the same belief, the two reluctantly decided to team up to uncover the fakes as being illegal teleporters with advanced holographic camouflage and not the alternate reality duplicates they claimed to be.

Which is why the two were now seated together in front of TV screens spying on the Other Jack and Other Nathan's rooms in the B&B…

The Other Jack sneaked into the Other Nathan's room, shutting the door quietly behind himself. "Nathan, are you okay?"

"I should be working on this problem, not leaving it up to some alternate reality versions of Henry, Zane, and myself," the Other Nathan responded sharply. "I can't stand just doing nothing like this."

"Don't forget that our Eureka is working on getting us back, too," Other Jack said soothingly. "So just think about the situation differently."

"Differently how?" Other Nathan grumbled.

"Well…" Other Jack sat down on the bed and smiled. "Think of it as a vacation."

"A vacation," Other Nathan echoed dubiously.

Other Jack nodded. "A vacation from worrying about the next GD disaster, where we won't be interrupted by Zoe or Kevin, and Allison won't be trying to get you to fix something at her house for her… a vacation."

A slow smile began creeping onto Other Nathan's face. "Oh… a vacation…" he sat down beside Other Jack. "Just the two of us… no interruptions…" he leaned over and kissed Other Jack passionately as his body moved to pin Other Jack to the bed.

Jack's face flushed with a combination of embarrassment and envy. Glancing over at Nathan, he caught one look from the other man's green eyes and then jerked his eyes down to the ground as he jerkily rose from his chair. Part of him really wanted to stay and watch (did it count as voyeurism is one of them was technically him?), but another part of him wanted to get away before his heart starting cracking into pieces from seeing and hearing what he could never have.

"I, uh…" stammering, Jack looked at Nathan again and suddenly he began to wonder if…

"Stark," Jack began again, "what's your opinion on experiments?"

* * *

Nathan's mouth went dry instantly at the sight of himself straddling Jack's waist, pushing the enticing blonde man against a bed, and kissing Carter passionately as his hands began wandering beneath the other's shirt. Granted, the two making out were from an alternate reality, but that didn't change the sight… or the sounds.

Apparently, Jack made the most deliciously arousing noises during foreplay.

"I… uh…" Jack's voice tore Nathan's attention away from the sight on the TV that was making his pants feel too tight. "Stark, what's your opinion on experiments?"

"What?" Nathan swallowed convulsively when the TV's speaker's emitted the sound of Other Jack moaning Nathan's name. Of all the questions to ask… "I think experimentation is the best way to further one's knowledge through experience. What does that have to do with anything?"

Jack grinned and then walked over. Clambering onto the recliner Nathan was sitting on in order to straddle the other man's lap, Jack whispered into the stunned scientist's ear, "I'd like to propose we have a little experiment of our own and see where that takes us." Jack then proceeded to nip at Nathan's ear before moving in order to claim Nathan's mouth with his own.

Nathan groaned and let his hands settle on Jack's hips as he started pulling Jack's lithe body against his own, the recliner beginning to slant as they pushed against its back.

From the moment Nathan had met Jack, he'd felt an almost electric sense of attraction for the other man. At first things were complicated by Allison, but after the divorce was finalized his feelings for her began to settle back to the way things had been when they'd been friends before the two had begun to date. Nathan's feelings for Jack, however, had never settled. If anything, his emotions had intensified.

However, Nathan had assumed that Jack was in love with Allison. Of course, what with the way Jack was sending jolts through Nathan's body by exploring Nathan's mouth with his tongue and Nathan's chest with his hands, Nathan was willing to bet that the assumption concerning Jack and Allison was completely wrong. Then Jack adjusted his legs so that his thigh was applying pressure to Nathan's groin and the ability to think coherently fled Nathan completely.

Jack, on the other hand, was thinking about how very glad he was that the doppelgangers weren't really fakes…


	4. Memories

Disclaimer – If we owned _Eureka_, we wouldn't be posting this on a fanfiction website, now would we? No, we'd still have Ed Quinn on the show and would be fulfilling every Jack/Nathan fan's dreams of officially pairing the two together and watching them make out.

September 1, 2010 - Kit used her editing skills to eliminate some of the grammar/spelling issues. ^_^ Additionally, I, Emcey, fixed some of the issues with the flow of a few of the sentences and paragraphs, which were lamentably off.

Summary – When an accident at GD leaves Jack unable to remember the past six months, or the relationship he's been in with Nathan for almost that long, Nathan's fears of losing Jack seem as though they've been realized. Fortunately, Jack's heart remembers what his head doesn't… and a trip down memory lane might be just what the doctor ordered.

_**Memories**_

The first things they asked him to recall were his name, current president, and date. Jack knew he got the first one right – Jack Carter – and the second one – Obama – but the third one was a little shaky. He named a date in May despite knowing instinctively that, even though his last memories were of that day in May, a long time has passed since then.

Allison told him that it was November 3rd and Stark got a look on his face like the world might be ending or something equally bad. Despite Allison telling him not to panic, that the amnesia should be temporary, Jack couldn't help but worry because of the expression on Nathan's face. Noticing the anxious way Jack asked about what happened and where Zoe and Lexi were, Allison zeroed in on Nathan's 'life is over', depressed expression and, with a polite, forced smile, dragged her ex-husband behind one of the far privacy curtains to talk.

Unable to restrain his curiosity, Jack hopped out of his hospital bed and – after regaining his balance and managing, if just barely, not to fall to the ground in a heap – followed them in order to eavesdrop. He figured that he was entitled; it's obvious that whatever they're talking about involved him and what happened during his lost time.

"What is it, Allison?" Nathan demanded, sounding irritated.

"You're acting like something has gone horribly wrong and that's worrying Carter. So why don't you tell me what's wrong. Jack's woken up and is going to be fine," Allison snapped back.

"The last day he remembers is May 25, Allie," Stark responds, as if that explained everything. He must have received some sort of annoyed look from Allison, though, because he elaborated after a few moments silence. "That's four weeks before he and I first kissed," he said quietly. "Jack's forgotten our first date… everything. Allie… he told me he loved me for the first time this morning and now… now I'm back to being the most exasperating scientist he knows."

Nathan's voice sounded a little choked and conveyed genuine pain. Jack felt so shocked by the man's words that he missed out on Allison's response, which was likely a touch pitying.

He'd always found Stark to be strikingly attractive with his somewhat rugged dark looks and piercing emerald eyes. Of course, Jack had typically found Stark to be an ass, too. Finding out that he'd been dating Nathan Stark for nearly six months was mind blowing… and naturally led him to wonder what the sex was like. Pulling his mind out of the gutter, Jack forced himself to listen again.

"I… I don't know, Allison. Zoe's internship at GD has been over since school restarted in August and it was sort of what brought the two of us together in the first place. What if… what if I tell him and he refuses to believe or wants nothing more to do with me?"

"Obviously I smack him upside the head," Allison responded protectively. "Besides, he won't react like that, Nathan. Just have a little faith in Jack. He loves you and I'm sure part of him remembers that even if the memories aren't there just now."

Jack wondered if that was true. The sound of Stark's voice – laced with pain – tore at Jack, but what did that mean exactly? He'd never been good at figuring out his emotions, but if he'd told Nathan that he was in love… obviously a lot of soul searching had gone on and he meant it. After all, Jack knew he'd never confess to something as important as love without being completely sure of himself.

Starting back towards his hospital bed, Jack lost himself in thought... really, tripping and crashing noisily to the ground was pretty inevitable. Jack cursed himself softly. Damn uncoordinated limbs… recovering from head wounds was the worst…

The two scientists came running and helped Jack back to his feet. Then Nathan got this look in his eyes that said he knew just what Jack had been doing.

"How much did you hear?" Stark asked as worry colored his voice.

Great… now Jack felt awful because clearly Nathan was afraid Jack had heard everything and things were about to end badly. So Jack tried the lying route. "Heard what?" he gestured to the sink where there were little cups waiting to be used. "I was about to get some water."

Nathan scowled and Jack knew he'd seen through the lie. "Then why were you heading back to your bed?"

Whoops…

"I heard everything," Jack said quietly.

Allison looked between the two and took a few steps away. The sudden silence was awkward and clearly making her uncomfortable. "Um… I'll just let you two talk about this privately," she glanced at the door. "I'll be in the corridor if you need me." Then she fled the room.

The awkward silence returned and Jack shifted on his feet for a few moments before he couldn't take the quiet any longer and spoke up. "I wouldn't say that I love you if I didn't mean it." A look of surprise appeared on Nathan's face, which Jack took to be a good thing. "I don't remember saying it and I don't remember our relationship, but I know I really can't stand seeing you look like someone's run you over with a mac truck or killed a puppy in front of you or something when I don't know how to fix what's wrong.

"God, you must be important to me," Jack muttered, running a hand through his hair. "I never talk about feelings." He bit his lip and watched Nathan's green eyes for a sign of... anything really. "Nathan, say something."

Instead, Nathan licked his lips and Jack couldn't help but stare. Then Stark leaned down quickly and pressed his lips against Jack's, whose eyes shuttered closed as he automatically kissed back. He felt as though his whole body was on fire, emanating from the mouth on his and the hands that were latching onto his upper arms.

As abruptly as the kiss began, it stopped. "Now how do you feel?" Nathan queried in a rough, breathy tone.

Panting a little, Jack fought to get his senses back in order. "Like we should do that again," he said unthinkingly. He blinked some to get rid of the daze that was trying to settle on him and then caught sight of the smirk on Nathan's face. Almost immediately, the daze cleared. "But why don't we work on getting me to remember first?" he added in a clearer, stronger voice.

"Sure. I can take you to some familiar places and we can talk about the past," Stark suggested before tilting his head to the side and moving even closer in to nibble lightly on Jack's ear.

Moaning softly, Jack felt his knees go weak and he leaned against Nathan for support. "That, uh… mmm… that sounds like a plan." Even though he didn't really want to, Jack forced himself to step away from the addictive brunet. "Stop distracting me."

Nathan smiled and laughed; the sound of Nathan's laugh was warm and Jack felt his heart skip a beat. It was becoming less and less of a stretch to see just why he'd fallen in love with the snarky, sexy Nathan Stark.

* * *

Their first stop was Café Diem to visit Zoe, who was working there part time again during the school year. Zoe immediately raced over and latched onto her father, burying her face against his chest as she hugged him.

"Dad! You're okay. Nathan sounded funny on the phone but…" Zoe pulled away and eyed Jack cautiously. "You are okay, right?"

"I got knocked on the head pretty hard Zo," Jack admitted, shooting Nathan a quick look that hopefully conveyed to him not to fill in what Jack was leaving out for now. "I'm sort of missing the last few weeks, but Allison and Nathan say I should remember soon enough, so..." Jack trailed off, feeling a strange sense of relief when Nathan moved closer and put a hand on his shoulder.

Zoe nodded seriously and then gave Nathan a brief hug, much to the scientist's obvious surprise. "Take care of my Dad, Nathan," she said.

Nathan nodded. "If he'll let me," he responded soberly. Zoe smiled at this, not realizing there might be a deeper meaning. Jack did, though. Nathan's fears of losing Jack weren't gone yet.

A few minutes later, Jack let Nathan steer him out the door. He was tired and hadn't managed to really remember anything. One thing Jack did insist on, however, was going to Nathan's house instead of Jack's. The last thing he wanted was for SARAH to play the mother hen as well.

Nathan's house felt familiar. The outside of the house had a well kept up lawn with a small garden area full of blue and green flowers. The house itself was red brick and two stories; it was the sort of house Jack would have wanted if he didn't have the bunker and SARAH. The inside of the house was warm and inviting.

Everything was familiar, but he couldn't place any of it. Jack wound up flopping down on the couch in frustration.

Settling nervously on one of the chairs, Nathan's demeanor had been changing ever since they'd left Café Diem. Nathan's fears of losing Jack were creeping back, making the scientist increasingly reticent and uncertain, and Jack felt his chest twinge a little at seeing the antsy way Nathan was acting.

So Jack concentrated and ignored the way his head began to pound. He was going to remember something and reassure Nathan. He had to. Dropping his head into his hands, Jack's headache slowly grew towards a migraine sized ache.

"Jack?" Nathan's hand brushed against Jack's forehead and the Sheriff jerked his face up to look dazedly at Nathan. "Are you okay?" He hadn't even noticed Nathan moving to sit with him.

"My head hurts," Jack mumbled, leaning against Nathan's shoulder. Automatically, Nathan wrapped his arms around Jack and started running his fingers through Jack's hair. Jack closed his eyes in response and snuggled against Nathan. Lying against Nathan the way he was felt natural and eased some of the pain away.

"I remember the first time I came to your house," Jack said slowly. "Zoe had just gotten the internship at GD and you told me that she'd be working with you on a project. I wanted to know more about it and you said…"

"_If telling you about the project will keep you from showing up at the lab every hour to make sure Zoe's okay, then I'll explain it to you over dinner," Nathan drawled, leading the way into Café Diem. _

"_I wouldn't show up every hour regardless," Jack protested with a grin. "More like every other hour," he joked. "I appreciate you telling me about what Zoe will be doing, though." Glancing around Café Diem, which was mostly empty, Jack spotted a sign on the bar top. "Huh... looks like the oven and stove are malfunctioning; Vince has closed the restaurant part of the Café for now."_

_Stark sighed. "If you don't mind eating at my house, we can still discuss Zoe's internship over dinner. Otherwise…"_

"_I don't mind." Jack smiled, "besides, I hear you missed lunch because Fargo accidentally blew something up in section four. You must be starving."_

"A few days later, Zoe started her internship and I began showing up every couple of days to bring her lunch… and you would join us. It was fun. You and I… we started meeting up for dinner, too. Almost a month after Zoe started her internship…"

_Though he was laughing at what Nathan had said about Fargo's latest mishap, Jack still noticed the way Nathan was watching him. They were sitting together on the couch in Nathan's living room and Nathan's green eyes seemed brighter than usual. "Nathan…" Jack started to ask, but he was cut off by Nathan leaning in and kissing him._

_Jack let his eyes close as he kissed back. Truth be told, he'd been hoping that his time with Nathan had been leading in this direction. In getting to know Nathan, Jack had felt his attraction for Nathan begin to turn into something more._

"_Jack," Nathan eventually moved his mouth from Jack's mouth to his right ear, nibbling lightly on it between words. "In the past few weeks, we've become friends, but… I want us to be more than friends. Can we do that?"_

_Jack shuddered and moaned. "There's… there's nothing I'd like more," Jack responded breathlessly and opened his eyes so that he would be looking Nathan in the eyes._

"There's still a gap after that, but I know I'll remember soon," Jack finished, reluctantly pulling away from Nathan some so that, much like that day in June, he could stare into Nathan's bright green eyes. "I love you, Nathan."

"Jack," Nathan's voice was rough with emotion as he smiled at Jack. "You amaze me sometimes," he kissed Jack in a needy way, stealing the breath from the blonde man's lungs. "I love you, Jack," he said.

Somehow everything was going to be okay after all.

A/N – This was inspired by various amnesia plots in different fandoms and one in particular for Eureka by Andie O'Neill (who's stories both Kit and I recommend you go read right now) where it's Nathan Stark who is having memory issues. Andie O'Neill's story in particularly got me thinking what if Jack lost his memory of being with Nathan. Thus, here is my take on it.


	5. Collision

Disclaimer – I don't own Eureka. The lack of slash in the show is evidence of that.

Author – KitKatt0430

Summary – (mid-first season AU, sometime after the episode 'Right as Raynes' but not necessarily following the timeline of the show and ignoring the artifact extraction plot line) Four years ago, Jack helped put away a dangerous criminal. Now the criminal has escaped from jail and likely intends to get revenge. Except… things aren't so simple. Not that anything is ever simple in Eureka.

A/N – I can't remember if Abby is a psychiatrist or a psychologist, but I'm going with the latter. It doesn't really matter, but this is just a warning for if I'm wrong so it won't bug anyone.

_**Collision**_

_Five Years Ago_

Jack paced the room as he waited for his partner, Ethan Faulkner, to get back from the grocery store. It had been over an hour and Ethan was running very, very late.

"Um… no offense," Darren Delby, the man that Jack and Ethan were watching, interrupted. "Could you stop pacing? It's making me dizzy…" Darren was recovering from the flu and it was likely that watching Jack pace _was_ making him dizzy.

Nodding, Jack dropped onto one of the chairs in the room. "Sorry."

"No, it's fine. You're worried about your partner. I'm sure he's fine, though."

Delby was actually a nice guy. He'd been working at a mob controlled store for a few years and covered up a few things that went on there for extra money. Delby was a single father in a very low paying job so, even though he hated it, Delby did those few 'favors' for the mob in order to make his daughter's life better. Only a problem popped up at the store a few months ago and Delby got the blame even though he'd had nothing to do with it.

Two days after the problem occurred, Delby went home to find his daughter dead as a warning. Twenty minutes later, Delby walked into the local police station and changed his life completely.

"Ethan's probably tied up in the lines at the grocery store. It's a Sunday and god knows the lines are always backed up halfway across the store on Sundays because there are never enough registers open," Jack agreed.

Delby smiled and nodded. "I hate shopping on Sundays."

There was a knocking at the door, the 'shave-and-a-haircut' that Ethan liked to use. So Jack got up, opened the door, and was greeted by the sight of a gun in his face.

_Present Day_

Jack propped his feet up on his desk, tilted his chair back, and grinned impishly at Jo, who absolutely hated it when Jack did things like that. Of course, irritating Jo was exactly why Jack did things like that and not saying 'over' on the radio. She would get this look in her eyes that said she was five minutes away from deciding to shoot Jack and affect a hostile takeover of the Sheriff's Office.

Messing with Jo was almost as fun as messing with Stark, who seemed to view Jack as a romantic rival for Allison Blake. Stark really was wrong about that – Allison was a good friend and they enjoyed flirting a little, but they both knew it was in jest only. Riling up Stark had to be the most entertaining part of moving to Eureka; Nathan Stark was the most handsome man that Jack had ever met and possessed one of the sharpest wits as well. When Stark was irritated, though, his eyes took on this intense gleam and the average level of sarcastic comments he made went up drastically.

Bantering with someone as hot and snarky as Nathan Stark was like a dream come true. The only way it could get better was if Stark could get over his strange belief that Jack liked Allison and start considering Jack as something more personal than a rival. But Jack wasn't going to complain since beggars can't be choosers after all.

The phone started ringing.

"Are you going to get that?" Jack asked.

Jo scowled and raised an eyebrow. Her arms crossed instead of reaching for the phone.

Smiling, Jack took his feet off the desk and picked up the phone. "Sheriff Carter," he answered.

"Jack, its Greyson," was the response.

Jack's smile grew a little less smug and a little more excited. "Greyson, it's good to hear from you. How've you been?" While they hadn't been official partners before Jack had been reassigned from the US Marshals, he and Greyson had taken care of a lot of assignments together over the years and become good friends.

"I broke up with Sophie," Greyson said with a sad sigh. Then in a happier tone added, "I'm now dating a lovely lady named Rachel. But that's not what I called about. Jack, there's a problem that you should know about."

Greyson's next words wiped the smile off his face and had Jack growing pale. Numbly, Jack thanked Greyson for the warning and politely told him goodbye before hanging up.

"Carter?"

Jack stared at the phone for a moment, fighting down the suddenly nauseas feeling in his gut.

"Carter?"

One of the worst criminals Jack had ever put away had broken out and was planning on getting revenge on the Marshal who'd arrested him.

"Jack!?"

The worry in Jo's voice startled Jack out of his reverie. "Sorry. What is it, Jo?"

"You look terrible. What did that guy, Greyson, have to say?" Jo looked so concerned that Jack almost told her everything.

Almost.

"A few years ago, I arrested this guy, the worst sort of criminal out there, and when he was being taken to prison he threatened Zoe," Jack told her. "He escaped last night and is probably headed to LA to try and make good on that threat."

"Good thing that Zoe's here in Eureka with you to protect her," Jo said, clearly trying to cheer Jack up. Then she frowned and asked, "what about your ex-wife?"

"Greyson said that they're already assigning Marshals to protect Abby. She should be fine." Jack nearly jumped when the phone rang again, but he didn't even need to ask if Jo was going to get it this time.

Jo's hand snapped out and she picked up the phone. "Deputy Lupo," she barked into the receiver. There was a series of 'mmhmms' and then Jo said, "we'll be right there, Dr. Blake." Hanging up the phone, Jo looked up at Jack. "There's been an explosion at GD. They'll fill us in when we arrive." Jo's expression softened a little. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah…" Jack nodded and took a deep breath. He couldn't afford to be distracted right now. "It's not like the guy knows where Eureka is. So even when he realizes Zoe and I aren't in LA and that he can't get to Abby, he won't be coming here. The news just…"

"I saw," Jo said dryly and then stood up from her desk.

Jack stood up and tried to smile. It was time for Sheriff Carter to do his job.

_Five Years Ago_

For a moment, Jack froze. Then a smile appeared on his face as he lightly batted the gun away. "Geez, Ethan, you nearly gave me a heart-attack. What took you so long?"

Laughing, Ethan put his gun away and walked into the hotel room. "Ah, you know, the girl at the cash register – Annie – was a complete babe. So obviously I had to 'forget' something and go through the lines a second time just to talk to her again." He dropped the bag of groceries that had been in his free hand onto the floor and then looked at Jack for a moment. Then, cocking an eyebrow, he jerked his head to the doorway where two more bags were sitting. "Are you just gonna leave those there?"

"Jerk," Jack said easily and with a smile. Sometimes Ethan got that way when they'd been stuck on a boring assignment for too long. He'd pull pranks and act stupid in order to liven things up. It usually irritated the hell out of Jack, but he'd grown used to it. They'd been partners for almost two years now and, despite Ethan's quirks, Jack had grown to respect the other Marshal because he was pretty damn good at his job.

Thus, Jack didn't really mind walking into the hallway to retrieve the bags.

When he got back into the room, Jack kicked the door shut and glanced over at Delby. The man was watching Ethan carefully, looking a bit worried after the stunt Faulkner had pulled. Delby glanced over at Jack, who flashed their charge a reassuring smile. After dropping the grocery bags next to the one Ethan brought in, Jack crossed over to sit on the bed beside Delby.

They sat quietly for a moment, watching Ethan pack away the supplies. Leaning over a little, Jack began to speak quietly. "Ethan does tend to pull some immature stunts, but he's damn good at his job. Don't worry; he won't mess with you, just me." That seemed to reassure Delby, who lay down on the bed with a muttered 'thanks'.

Standing up, Jack crossed the room in order to help Ethan put away the groceries.

"How much longer are we going to be babysitting this guy?" Ethan asked in an undertone.

Jack shrugged. "The last court day should be tomorrow, unless the defense manages to stretch things out a bit, so just a few more. He's not that bad a guy, Ethan. You wouldn't be so bored if you'd just talk to him."

"Nah," Ethan shrugged and pulled out a few cans of chili and soup. "You're the people person, Jack. You're the one that gets opened up to and connects well with others. I always wind up looking like an ass when I try."

"I dunno," Jack shrugged. "Zoe likes you enough to call you Uncle Ethan. So… you can't be that bad at meeting people. Abby likes you too."

"She likes to mother hen me," Ethan mock-complained. Jack just grinned, knowing that his partner secretly appreciated the fact that Jack and his family cared about him so much. Suddenly Ethan jerked still, his eyes widening.

"What is it?"

"I just realized something. Instead of pointing my gun at you I should have gone," Ethan took a deep breath and then began to sing, "I am your singing telegram!"

Groaning, Jack whacked the back of Ethan's head lightly. "That's it. We're never watching 'Clue' while on the job ever again."

"Awww…" Ethan pouted.

Jack rolled his eyes and got back to unloading groceries.

_Present Day_

Despite his reassurances to Jo that he was fine, Jack was distracted the entire time they were at GD.

The explosion had been in Taggart's lab. A kangaroo-platypus-lion hybrid had learnt how to use dynamite and the surrounding section had to be locked down while Taggart, Jack, and Jo went in with tranq guns to try and catch it. Allison and Stark insisted on tagging along and Jack was still too much in shock over Greyson's news to argue properly against having two unarmed civilians going with them. Likewise, Jo was too worried about Jack not being himself to offer much resistance either.

They were both too distracted to ask Taggart why he'd created a kangaroo-platypus-lion hybrid. Allison, however, wasn't distracted and so she asked. Taggart got evasive and so Stark demanded to know what the hell Taggart thought he was doing.

Apparently Taggart was supposed to have been studying the creatures separately and had misinterpreted the exact meaning of 'simultaneous animal studies'. At least… that was his excuse.

Allison noticed something was off with Jack. She was placated with the esplanation that he had a migraine and she told him to take the rest of the afternoon off. Stark, however, was not placated in the least.

As soon as Jo left for the Sheriff's Office, having seconded Allison's opinion that Jack should take the day off, and Allison left for other parts of the building, Nathan rounded on Jack. "Carter, what's really wrong with you?"

"I just said I have a migraine," Jack lied again.

Stark's green eyes narrowed slightly. "Your mouth twitches at the edges when you lie, Carter."

Jack's eyes widened. Well damn. Most people never noticed that he had a minor 'tell'. Even Abby had taken a year and a half to notice it. Stark, however, had picked up on it in a matter of months, probably less. "I got a call from a friend of mine in the Marshals Office," Jack relented. "He had… bad news for me."

"Did something happen to one of the Deputy Marshals you know?" Stark sounded genuinely concerned and Jack was reminded of the night that Callister died. Nathan had let Jack be there for him then. Maybe he was trying to return the favor.

Jack shook his head negatively. "There was this person I put away about four years ago that's broken out of prison. The last time I saw him, he threatened Zoe. I know that he has no idea where Zoe really is, but I can't help worry."

Nathan nodded understandingly. "There's someone out there who wants to hurt your girl. If Kevin were threatened, I'd feel the same way.

"Go home, Carter. Do whatever it is you do to unwind for the day and, when Zoe gets back from school, you'll feel a lot better once you see for yourself she's still okay." Nathan made a shooing gesture that was oddly cute.

Smiling the first real smile he'd had since his talk with Greyson, Jack nodded. "You're right. Thanks for listening, Stark."

A slow, genuinely happy smile appeared on Nathan's face. Jack was suddenly struck by just how sexy Stark looked when he smiled. Swallowing reflexively and fighting back the instinct to blush, Jack walked off in the direction of the parking lot so that he could follow the advice he'd been given to go home.

Since Jack didn't look back, he never noticed the way Stark stared at his ass after briefly fighting against the urge to do so.

_Five Years Ago_

Jack and Ethan were escorting Delby out of the courthouse when the shots rang out.

The defense had managed to buy another day, much to Ethan's barely restrained dismay, and Jack had been unsurprised. Delby was the prosecution's star witness and the defense was doing all they could to discredit the man. Now, as sniper shots rained down from above, it became obvious just how desperate the defense was getting.

The only fortunate thing the two Marshals had going for them was that the sniper the mob had hired was apparently a crap shot. They managed to hustle Delby back into the courthouse while the local leos sent a team of officers into the nearby building to capture the sniper.

Delby didn't cower like most people would've. Instead he stood out of range for the sniper and then glared hatefully across the street at the building where the gunfire had come from. Jack felt his respect for Delby go up a notch. Yeah, the man had made mistakes and his daughter had paid for it. But Delby was trying to atone for what he'd done, was more than willing to serve time for his crimes, and refused to flinch or back down from his decisions.

There was something kind of honorable about a person like that.

Ethan, however, looked rather pissed off as he watched Delby, which surprised Jack a lot. Jack had never seen Ethan regard one of their charges with a look like that and, despite the fact that he'd known Ethan for a long time, Jack felt a little worried. It was probably nothing, but Jack would ask about it later just the same. Maybe Delby just rubbed Ethan the wrong way.

Yeah… that had to be it.

Still, Jack couldn't seem to shake the feeling of unease that came over him and it only got worse with the cops came back to say that the gunman had somehow escaped onto the roof of a nearby building using a makeshift 'bridge' made of planks that had collapsed, nearly taking an officer with it. The sniper had escaped.

_Present Day_

A few days later, Jack was mostly back to being himself. Every so often Jo would catch him looking worried and he was a bit more subdued than usual, but she felt he was doing fine and didn't bring up the subject again.

Jack had the night off and Zoe was at Pilar's to study and sleepover. Deciding he needed the bustle of people, Jack opted for dinner at Café Diem.

All the tables were occupied, though it was common for people to simply join others during lunch and dinner hours, so Jack scanned the room for someone to sit with. Fargo was in the back with Spencer, who Jack was fairly certain had a major crush on Fargo even though the accident prone scientist didn't realize it. Jo was sitting with Taggart; Jack really didn't want to know what was going on with those two. They'd been acting weird around each other lately. Allison and Kevin were at a booth and Jack knew he could join them, but he didn't want to interrupt their family time. He spied Stark in the very back of the room, nursing a beer, and wondered why Nathan wasn't with Allison and Kevin.

Despite the tatters that were Nathan and Allison's marriage, the two were still friendly and Stark tended to get as much time with Kevin as he could. The mystery was irresistible. Jack sat down across from Nathan.

"Are you alright?" he asked, not bothering to say 'hello'.

Nathan stayed silent and took a long drink from his beer. Just as Jack began to get annoyed over being ignored, Stark spoke. "Allison brought me the divorce papers today. She intends to file them in the morning." Unspoken went the fact that Nathan had obviously signed them. "I came back to Eureka more to fix my marriage with her than because I wanted to be in charge of GD. I'd thought that by now she and I would be working out what went wrong before, but instead we're divorced. It's over; we failed."

Jack remembered his divorce with Abby. It had happened for different reasons than Nathan and Allison's – Jack could still feel the pain of discovering Abby in bed with another man and the shock of realizing that was just her _latest_ affair – but Jack imagined the feeling of failing was the same.

Stark wasn't done talking, though. "The thing is… when Allie handed me the papers I felt… relieved. I don't have to keep trying to patch up something I've come to realize is irrevocably broken. It's just…"

"It still hurts a lot," Jack filled in. He'd been the one to end his marriage, but the relief Nathan spoke of was also a familiar feeling; relief that Abby signed the divorce papers without putting up a fight and, later, relief that Abby was leaving the major decisions regarding Zoe's living conditions up to him. The fight over Zoe was one Jack had almost lost because he'd been afraid that Zoe would end up wanting to go back to LA. Except Zoe had fallen in love with the small town Eureka and Jack had felt vindicated in his success.

"Yeah… it still hurts a lot," Nathan agreed softly.

Silence fell over their table for a while, broken only when Vince showed up to take Jack's order.

"Hey, uh, whatever happened to that kangaroo-whatever hybrid?" Jack asked as he blatantly changed the subject to a lighter topic.

Amusement entered Stark's eyes. "It's DNA is unstable, so the kangaroo-platypus-lion is aging faster than Taggart predicted. It should be the hybrid equivalent of a hundred in a few days and keel over. Taggart's arranging a funeral, though I hear your deputy's planning to cheer him up."

"That explains why she's planning a paint-ball game with him this weekend," Jack confirmed. "I almost feel sorry for it, though," Jack mused, returning to the topic of the hybrid. "Sure, it turned out to by a pyromaniac kangaroo-platypus-lion, but it just wanted to have a little fun after living its life in a cage."

Nathan laughed, just like Jack was hoping he would. The sound of Nathan's deep laughter was comforting in a sense; to Jack it meant that the stress that had been piling up on Stark still hadn't overwhelmed the scientist. Still…

"Carter…" Stark trailed off uncomfortably, as if uncertain how to broach whatever topic he wanted to ask about. Jack simply tilted his head to the side and smiled invitingly; waiting to hear what Nathan had to say. "What is your ex-wife like?"

That was when Vince showed up with both Stark and Jack's dinners, giving Jack a few moments to come up with an answer. His first instinct was to be evasive. The divorce had been a mess despite the lack of confrontational fights and the reasons behind the divorce were still painfully complicated.

Except Jack knew the details of Nathan's divorce to Allison whether Stark liked it or not. It wasn't fair to have that knowledge without some sort of turnaround…

"If you don't want to answer…" Nathan began to say once Vince had walked off, though the café owner was shooting curious looks at their table.

"Its fine," Jack assured Stark. Thinking back to when he'd first met Abby, Jack began to tell Nathan about her.

_Five Years Ago_

Jack sighed as he hung up the phone. He'd been married to Abby for eleven years and still loved her dearly, but sometimes it felt as though they'd become very different people from the ones that had said their vows.

When they'd married, Abby had understood how important Jack's job was to him. Even after Zoe was born a year later, Abby had been able to see how much Jack needed to be out in the field and how much helping others was an integral part of who he was. Over the years, though, Jack had begun asking for more jobs closer to home because of Abby's insistence and he'd been given those jobs. Not that it was good enough for Abby that Jack was home more now.

Lately Abby had begun telling Jack that he needed to settle down with a desk job and she had this way of insinuating that Jack was being selfish by not giving up his dream job for paperwork.

_You have a way of ignoring the things you don't want to do, Jack._

_Jack doesn't do the things Jack doesn't want to._

Their latest conversation on the phone had degraded into an argument over just that. Delby had pretended to sleep through the whole thing and was now falling asleep for real, which reinforced Jack's opinion of the guy.

Ethan, however, had been messing around in the kitchenette in the hotel room with a very agitated air. When he saw Jack hang up the phone, Ethan went over to sit on the couch beside his partner.

"Hey, man, are you alright?"

Jack nodded and leaned back against the couch. "Abby's just…"

"Being unreasonable?" Ethan filled in when Jack didn't finish. "I don't mean that badly… or maybe I do. Being a US Marshal, stopping bad guys, protecting others… its part of what makes you who you are. It's part of what makes me respect you so much and so proud to be your partner… to have an unofficial brother. But it also makes you put yourself in danger and that scares Abby. So she's trying to change you into a version of you that doesn't have the 'stopping bad guys' and 'protecting others' aspects. But that person wouldn't be you, Jack.

"That person would look like you and talk like you, but not be you."

Stunned, Jack didn't know what to say. He did think of Ethan as his brother. Lexi had never really needed Jack to look after her or teach her things, but Ethan did, partially because Ethan was a rookie when they'd first met and partially because Ethan had come from a very sheltered small town and didn't know much about life in the city or what non-small town people were like.

Hearing that Ethan saw Jack as a brother, too, was very flattering.

In fact, everything Ethan had said felt both honest and spot on. "I agree," Jack responded with a smile. "I wouldn't have phrased it like that, but maybe I should. Abby usually listens to logic and you're better with coming up with logical arguments than I am."

Ethan beamed at the praise. For a moment that sat there in the silence with the TV playing quietly in the background. Then Ethan said quietly, his expression suddenly dead serious, "do you remember how I got called up to the Supervisory Deputy's office the day before we got this assignment?"

"Yeah, you said it was nothing," Jack responded. The feeling that something very bad was happening came back to him.

"I was offered a solo assignment," Ethan said. "I don't know if I should take it, Jack, and I'm not supposed to talk about the particulars. My window of opportunity to accept is closing." Unspoken went the fact that he shouldn't have said even this much to Jack.

"There's something about this assignment that really bothers you or you'd have accepted it already," Jack observed quietly. "The assignment… is the objective the right sort of thing to achieve?"

"Yeah."

"So if you took it, you'd be accomplishing something worth doing."

"If I succeeded, yes. But a lot of people important to me could get hurt in the process." Ethan was avoiding Jack's eyes by now.

"Only you can decide whether accepting this assignment is the right thing to do, Ethan. The question you need to ask yourself, however, is which decision you couldn't live with yourself: going… or not." Jack hoped he was giving the right advice and not about to cause Ethan to make the wrong choice… whichever was the wrong choice.

"I need to get out and think about this…" Ethan gestured to Delby. "Do you mind watching him alone for a little while?"

"Nah, it's fine, Ethan. Take all the time you need." Jack smiled at Ethan, who looked immensely gratefully as he stood and walked over to the door.

Opening the door, Ethan paused and looked over at Jack. "You're a better friend than I deserve, Jack." The door swung shut noiselessly behind Ethan and Jack felt chilled.

Something very, very bad was about to go down.

_Present Day_

Somehow Jack's conversation with Nathan over dinner evolved into one about their lives before Eureka, how they'd met their ex-wives, what college and high school had been like for them, what their families were like… and everything else they could think of. At some point, Jack insisted that Stark call him by his first name and Nathan agreed… so long as Jack did the same in return.

Around nine-thirty, Vince reluctantly approached them to let the duo know that it was almost closing time. Both had been surprised that they'd been chatting for so long and had enjoyed one another's company so much.

Neither had exactly been prepared to part ways, either. To the surprise of both, Nathan invited Jack over to his house to continue talking and Jack eagerly agreed.

At some point, Nathan got Jack on the topic of Ethan Faulkner. At first, talking about Ethan was easy enough. As Jack edged closer to that night with Delby asleep on the hotel bed and Ethan talking about some phantom assignment, it got harder. Nathan grew quiet, as if sensing that Jack needed to talk about this to someone, needed to get everything out in open because he hadn't done it before.

Because it was the only way to heal from having been betrayed so horribly.

Because Ethan was the one who'd escaped from prison.

_Five Years Ago_

Ethan's gun was in Jack's face again.

For a moment, Jack smiled and reached up to bat the weapon away again, but the look on Ethan's face stopped him. The smile melted off Jack's face and his hand dropped towards his own gun as he took a step back. Two men appeared at the end of the corridor with guns in their hands.

"Ethan, what's going on?" Jack asked, unable to believe what was going on. "Ethan…"

"Shut up Jack," Ethan snapped. His hand was not shaking. "I've made my choice. Put your gun down on the floor and get out of my way."

Swallowing reflexively, Jack felt cold. It was as if he was watching events from far away. "I can't do that, Ethan."

"Then I'm sorry, Jack." Ethan lunged forward and attacked Jack.

There was scuffle, but Jack couldn't recall much of it later. He just knew that it ended with Ethan knocking him on the back of the head with the gun. When Jack woke up hours later he found himself in almost a daze as he realized that Delby was gone and the room was a mess.

The call Jack made to headquarter that morning was the worst he'd ever experienced.

_Present Day_

"My god…" Nathan whispered. "How could he do that to you?"

Jack shrugged, but leaned against the scientist's should when Nathan scooted closer in support. "I don't know. I don't think I want to know." His voice shook. "I spent the next year hunting him down. When I caught him… he was like a completely different person. He was working for some agency called the Consortium and it turned out that the mob group that Delby had been about to help put away had been fronting for the Consortium. Unfortunately, that was all Faulkner told us.

"After that, I took the desk job like Abby wanted me to. I hated it. I was miserable and Zoe was miserable because she saw how much I hated being unable to do the very things I'd joined the Marshals for. Abby, though… she was happy. She couldn't see how depressed Zoe and I were. She didn't understand why six months later I ditched the desk. But we started growing distant and… Abby cheated on me. When I found out, what surprised me was that I wasn't surprised or angry. I was just… hurt."

"Then you divorced her," Nathan filled in.

"Yeah, I divorced her." Jack let out a sigh and, for a few moments, let his head drop against Nathan's shoulder. Then, as if just noticing what he was doing, Jack jerked up and started to get off the couch. "I'm sorry. I sat down to dinner with you because you looked like you could use some cheering up and I wind up pouring out my life story to you and likely completely depressing you," Jack babbled, embarrassed.

But Nathan's hand reached out and snagged Jack's upper arm. They both stared at Nathan's hand in surprise, but Nathan recovered first.

"I didn't mind, Jack," Nathan tugged on Jack's arm so that the sheriff was sitting on the couch again. "I'm glad you decided to tell me all of it. I… I'm glad you decided to let me get to know you."

"Really…" Jack felt relieved. "You know… when we're not busy trying to save the town or worrying over jurisdiction, you're very easy to talk to."

Nathan's hand moved from Jack's arm to cup his cheek. Jack found himself staring into Nathan green eyes, the pupils growing wider. Their faces leaned in towards each other…

And then Jack's phone began ringing.

Springing apart, they both began blushing. Jack pulled the cell from his pocket, flipped it open, and answered "Carter."

"Jack, it's after one in the morning. Are you alright?"

Jack's eyes flicked to the DVD player and the time – 1:42 AM. "SARAH, I'm fine. I completely lost track of time, that's all."

"Will you be coming home soon? Why didn't you remember to call?"

Letting out a slightly shaky laugh, "I told you, SARAH, I lost track of time. I'm not sure when I'll be back, okay?"

SARAH's reply was huffy, which made Jack wonder if he was going to be spending time in front of the entrance to his home apologizing to SARAH when he got back to the bunker. "Very well, Jack. We can talk about this when you get back."

There was a click and Jack pulled the cell away in order to stare wryly at the phone. "I think I just pissed off my house."

"SARAH's go quite the personality, huh?" Nathan asked, looking uncertain.

"She's quirky, that's for sure," Jack agreed. He reached out and took a hold of Nathan's hand. "Look, Nathan, I've been attracted to you practically since we met. I don't want to be a rebound, though. Until today, you've been completely dedicated to getting back Allison and…"

"You're not a rebound," Nathan interrupted. "At first you had me so confused… after Callister, though, I knew I wasn't in love with Allie anymore. Not when I feel so strongly about you. It's another reason why I was relieved when Allison brought me the divorce papers, because then I wouldn't have to look into them myself."

"Oh…" Jack let out a relieved sigh. "Good." He leaned forward and kissed Nathan. His free hand reached up and slid to rest on the back of Nathan's head, his fingers tangling in Nathan's dark, curly hair.

_Four Years Ago_

Jack darted out of the alley and, with an unusually swift series of movements, he knocked over the man racing away from the other three Marshals. He dropped down, pinning the man and cuffing him.

Faulkner began to laugh and the sound cut at Jack. It wasn't the same laugh that he'd always heard from Ethan. This was a harsher, pained sound. "Are you and Abby doing so badly now that you've got to get your kicks from me?"

Slamming his hands against Faulkner's back a little harder than necessary, Jack used him as leverage to stand back up. Then he leaned down and yanked Faulkner to his feet. "Shut up," Jack hissed hatefully. After spending a year wondering… hoping that somehow Ethan hadn't really betrayed him, hadn't betrayed Abby and Zoe…

Yet part of Jack couldn't accept it. This man couldn't possibly be Ethan Faulkner, Jack's best friend… his little brother. This man had a different accent, a different laugh, a different… he was _different_.

"Is that the best you can come up with?" Faulkner pressed his luck. "_Shut up?_ God, Jack, surely you've got a witty repartee in there somewhere."

"Carter!"

Jack had never felt so disturbed or torn before and he knew it was showing. "I don't even know who you are anymore. Have I ever known you?"

"Marshal Carter!" Jack turned to the other Marshals. The lead of the three was Marshal Greyson. Jack had only met him recently, but he seemed like a good Marshal.

"Marshal Greyson," Jack greeted calmly despite the fact that he felt anything but composed. "I've apprehended the criminal."

"Oh, is he my replacement?" Ethan trilled. "Hmm… bet I'm more popular with the ladies."

Greyson quirked an eyebrow. "I thought we were capturing an adult," he drawled. "Oh, well."

Jack turned Ethan over to Greyson, not really hearing anything anymore. He watched dimly as Faulkner was put in a black car and two of the Marshals left with him. Greyson moved to stand in front of Jack.

"Are you alright, Carter?"

"I'm taking a desk job," Jack answered.

"Ah…" Greyson shoved his hands into his pockets. "Definitely not okay, then. Come on, there's a Starbucks on the corner over there. I think we could both use some kind of coffee based substance."

Minutes later they were seated at a table with machiatos. "Don't take the desk job, Carter. You'll regret it. I barely know you and even I can see you'll be wasted there."

"I don't know, Greyson." Jack sighed and took a long drink from his coffee cup. "Abby, my wife, has been asking me to take a desk job for years now and… I don't think I can do this anymore."

"Carter…" Greyson looked sad, but not pitying. "Make it a trial run, then. Six months. If you hate it, you'll have an out. You'll hate it, I know you will. You're a good Marshal, Jack. Don't take yourself out of the field permanently just yet."

"Six months…" Jack echoed. "I'll get used to it, Greyson."

"No you won't. You'll be tearing your hair out in a few weeks." Greyson shrugged, "but good luck proving me wrong." He raised his Starbucks cup in a salute. "Take a few days off. Put some distance between yourself and this crap with Faulkner."

Not answering, Jack stared off into the distance and drank his coffee.

_Present Day_

Jack woke up curled up against someone warm. Slowly, his memory of the previous night filtered back; talking to Nathan, kissing Nathan, falling asleep with Nathan…

Nathan's alarm was blaring one of Eureka's local stations run by an AI that SARAH often mocked for being simplistic and not genuinely intelligent. Mumbling sleepily, Nathan reached across Jack and slapped the snooze button. Then he paused, finding himself half on top of Jack, and stared, blinking glazed green eyes as his sleepy brain tried to process the fact that there was a blonde man in his bed. "Jack?" Nathan smiled and tilted his head to the side, his eyes starting to clear. "I wasn't dreaming."

"Nope." Jack used his elbows to lever himself up a little in order to nuzzle against Nathan's shoulder. "Not dreaming." Then he moved his face over in order to capture Nathan's lips.

The night before, they did a lot of kissing and their hands did a lot of wandering, but they'd refrained from going any further. Though, they had lost some of their clothes as their hands had wandered.

Nathan had lost his dress shirt and undershirt the night before and Jack began to take advantage of that, running his hands up and down Nathan's well muscled stomach and then teasing the waistband of the scientist's pants. In response, Nathan adjusted his legs so that one slid between Jack's and his thigh pressed lightly against Jack's arousal. Both of them pulled out of the kiss, panting and thoroughly turned on.

The radio came back on, this time blaring a ridiculously clichéd love ballad.

"Why does your alarm go off at four-thirty in the morning?" Jack groaned. "And why does it go off every five minutes?"

"I don't usually wake up this fast," Nathan admitted. He leaned down and started nibbling Jack's earlobe. His right hand reached out and hit the alarm reset button.

"Nnnhh…" Jack shuddered and writhed under Nathan's ministrations.

And then two cell phones started ringing.

"I swear, if Fargo was putting in overtime and blew something up," Nathan growled, sitting up and grabbing his cell from his bedside table. "Stark," he snapped.

Meanwhile, Jack caught his breath and made himself get up to hunt for his cell phone, which had somehow wound up under the bed. He snapped it open, "Carter."

"Carter, where are you?" Jo growled. "I called your house, but SARAH said you didn't go home last night…"

"Jo, I'm okay. Just… what's the emergency?" Jack heard Jo grumble something under her breath that he couldn't quite make out.

"There's a fire at GD's outdoor lab Beta that's resistant to Henry's foam," Jo said, her voice still unhappy.

"Jo… I'm sorry you couldn't reach me at home. I won't let it happen again." Jack bit his lip, hoping that his deputy wasn't too angry at him; he was already dreading having to face SARAH.

"Fine," was the grudging response. "You've got call forwarding for a reason, Carter. If you've got a girlfriend now, you ought to start using it." Jo signed off.

Jack looked up to see Nathan standing in front of him, half naked, and staring intently at him. "Fire at lab Beta?" he asked. When Jack nodded, Nathan leaned in and kissed Jack, his hand behind Jack's neck as he stole the blonde's breath away. "Tonight, would you like to have dinner again?"

"I'd love to," Jack paused and then added, "but I can't. Zoe's having a study group at my house tonight. How about lunch?"

Nathan nodded and smiled. "Lunch sounds good."

_Three Years, Six Months Ago_

"I don't understand, Jack," Abby protested. "We've been doing so much better since you took the desk job. Zoe's been happier…"

"No she hasn't. God, Abby, what sort of dream world are you living in. Zoe's grades are slipping, I'm miserable, and you're rarely here anymore." Jack trailed off. "Zoe asked me the other day when I was going to go back to my real work because we were all happier when I was saving people. Her words, Abby, not mine."

"Oh, really? We'll just see about that," Abby snapped back, her eyes narrowing. "After all, we both know how you don't do the things you don't want to. I've made a lot of sacrifices for our family, Jack…"

"And I haven't? Is that what you're saying?" Jack clamped down on his anger as best he could. One of them needed to keep a level head. "Sometimes I think you can't see what's in front of your eyes."

"You're one to talk," Abby shot back. The phone rang and, eyes narrowed at Jack, she snapped up the receiver and brought the speaker to her ear. "Carter residence," she barked. Her voice softened considerably as she began conversing to one of her coworkers – a Dr. Jim Hardison.

Jack frowned and tried not to think of reasons why Abby would sound so much friendlier with Jim than she had with her husband in years. He wasn't stupid or blind, but… he wasn't about to wreck his family because Abby might be having an affair. There was no proof.

Still… Jack turned and walked out.

If things didn't start looking up soon, Jack wasn't sure what he'd do…

_Present Day_

"So… who is she?" Jo quizzed.

Jack raised an eyebrow, "huh? Who's who?"

"The lady you were with last night." Now she sounded irritated.

"I wasn't with a lady last night," he shot back. Then, checking the clock, Jack smiled as he saw that it was time to meet Nathan for lunch. "Jo, I've got a lunch date, so I really should be heading to Café Diem," he said, getting out of his chair.

"Lunch date… but you just said that…" then it clicked and Jo's expression grew shocked. "A man? You were with a guy last night?!" she grinned and started trying to imagine who. "Spill, spill, who is he?"

"I could tell you," Jack hedged, walking to the door, "but it'll be so much more amusing if you just follow and find out for yourself." As he left the station, Jack was aware of Jo rushing to catch up.

Walking to the café with Jo guessing random names and getting 'no way in hell' or 'who?' in response to the majority of them. Fargo's name got 'oh, god, no', though. Larry's got a disgusted grimace and a demand to know what was wrong with Jo.

Never once did she mention Nathan Stark. So when Jack walked into Café Diem and sat down at a table with Nathan, Jo froze with one hand over her mouth.

"What's wrong with your deputy?" Nathan asked, giving Jo a faintly concerned glance.

"Oh, I think we might have broken her," Jack drawled and waved his hand dismissively. "She'll be fine in a few moments."

"Oh. My. God!"

"See," Jack laughed. "Jo's fine."

"Jo?" Allison asked as she eyed the Sheriff and the Director of GD having lunch together. "Something the matter?"

By then, Vince showed up with a grin on his face. "Good afternoon, gentlemen. What can I get you?"

As they ordered, Jack heard Jo telling Allison about the morning call, how miffed SARAH had sounded, and how, apparently, Jack had been at Nathan's at four thirty that morning. Allison didn't approach the duo or say anything derogatory, but her eyes narrowed for a moment as she looked at Nathan before she returned to her table.

Once Vincent had left to prepare their lunches, Jack observed to Nathan, "now Allison is going to grill you as soon as you're both back at GD."

"That I'm not looking forward to." Nathan grimaced. "She'll corner you next. Just… Jack…" Nathan captured Jack's hands with his own under the table, "Allie's probably thinking that I'm using you, but I'm not. I care about you a lot…" Nathan wet his lips nervously and Jack found himself entranced by worried green eyes.

"I know, Nathan," Jack responded reassuringly. "I trust you." As Nathan relaxed, Jack found his mind zeroing in on two facts; the emotion in Nathan's eyes was genuine and neither one of them was wearing a wedding ring.

_Eleven Months Ago_

Jack had known for a long time that Abby was cheating on him, but he'd managed to pretend it wasn't happening because he'd never found proof. He'd just never known whether he hadn't found proof because he wasn't looking hard enough or because he didn't really want to know the truth.

Now, seeing her in bed – their bed – with another man and babbling nonsensical explanations… Jack knew. It was that he hadn't cared.

He felt hollow inside. Betrayal, shock, anger… those would come later. Jack knew that instinctively, but for now he was unsurprised and unmoved. "We should have done this a long time ago, Abby," Jack said quietly. Somehow, she heard him over her ramblings and the fearful whimpers of her bedmate (Jack thought he recognized him from Abby's clinic, but he couldn't be sure) and both grew silent. "I'm going to file for divorce."

The next few months filled up with lawyers, alimonies, and the beginning of Zoe's brief 'runaway phase'. All during it, Jack felt as if the world had been wrapped in cotton and he'd never be himself again. The first time he felt alive again was in a small town called Eureka. The first time he let himself feel again, though, was in the medical center at GD as he watched Stark button up a shirt as he fought not to stare at Nathan's chest.

For the first time since he'd held baby Zoe in his arms and introduced her to their house in LA for the first time, Jack had found a place that felt like home.

_Present Day_

Fargo babbling after an accidental explotion was not unusual. Fargo acting around Jack the way he acted when he was around Nathan Stark in a bad mood, however, was.

"Fargo, calm down. I know I'm dating your boss, but you do still realize that you can talk to me, right?"

Fargo nodded and then launched into a brief explanation involving his cousin that Jack couldn't really follow. Part of it did, however, distinctly remind Jack of something Ethan had once said about his cousin Doug. Jack put it out of his mind, though, as he assured Fargo that no one was going to jail for the explosion.

That evening Jack and Nathan walked together from Café Diem to Nathan's house. It was such a nice night that they took the long way… past Fargo's house. For a second, glancing at the windows of the accident prone man's home, Jack thought he saw Ethan looking out from within. It was barely a second, but Jack had to check again. The lights were out and no one was home.

"Something wrong?" Nathan asked, glancing over at Fargo's house.

"Nah, I thought I saw someone, but it was probably just the curtains moving," Jack dismissed it as he snuggled closer to Nathan, whose arm was around Jack's shoulders. It felt nice to be able to do things like this with Nathan without having to be worried about what the neighbors would think. While Eureka wasn't a hundred percent accepting of homosexual relationships, it was close enough that the minority of closed minded people stayed quiet about their unhappiness with Eureka's newest, most prominent couple.

Allison was still withholding judgment on them, which was a bit disconcerting to Jack. He'd hoped that she'd have accepted them by now. Nathan wasn't worried, though, so Jack tried not to wonder about what was holding Allison back.

"Zoe's birthday is coming up," Jack said suddenly. "I'm planning a surprise party for her. Want to help?"

"Of course." Nathan didn't even hesitate to answer.

Jack knew that he'd be forever grateful over how quickly Nathan and Zoe clicked. His little girl had simply informed Nathan that she could use three types of handguns and two long range weapons with deadly proficiency and that Jo was willing to help her hide the body of anyone who broke her father's heart. Nathan took Zoe's statement at face value and swore he had no intention of ever hurting Jack like that. Zoe had eyed Nathan critically for a moment, nodded sharply, and then smiled brightly at him. Then, since Jack was in the kitchen cooking – while SARAH gave him pointers and made enthused comments about how wonderful it was that he was seeing Dr. Stark because they made such a lovely couple – Zoe laid out her chemistry books on the coffee table and started grilling Nathan for homework help.

Jack had felt warm inside of the sight of Nathan grinning at Zoe and explaining chemistry far better than her teacher at Tesla did.

"She's going to be sixteen…" Nathan trailed off. "You should probably look into cars for her."

"Cars…" Jack repeated in a suddenly gloomy tone. "She's not a bad driver… I suppose. It's just… she's my little girl."

"It's Eureka, Jack," Nathan turned his head to the side and regarded his lover with amusement. "She's not likely to get into car trouble around here."

"I guess I'd rather her driving around here than LA," Jack agreed, still not liking the idea of his Zoe behind a steering wheel. Maybe that had something to do with the time when Zoe was nine and she'd been driving a golf cart with Jack, Abby, and Ethan, who they were cheering up because his girlfriend had left him. Zoe had crashed the cart, rammed it right into a tree, and once the four had climbed out of the cart, Zoe had begun to cry, afraid she'd be grounded. Ethan, though, had begun to laugh for the first time in days and he picked up Zoe and whirled her around before thanking her for making his day so exciting.

"So, who's on the guest list?" Nathan asked, drawing Jack's attention back to the party.

"I've left the guest list up to Pilar," Jack responded. "I pitched the idea to her last night when Zoe had her over for studying. So we're left with where, when, and decorating. I figured we'd go with Café Diem, though, since I know Vince loves planning party-food."

"So that leaves us with decorations," Nathan smiled. "Sweet sixteen… I celebrated my sixteenth birthday my senior year of college," he said, sounding oddly wistful. "The only person who knew the date of my birthday was Henry, but he told my friends and the five of them sprang a party on me."

"Sounds like you had good friends," Jack observed as they wandered off. "I was grounded on my sixteenth birthday, but Lexi helped me sneak in and out of the house without my parents noticing. Her only condition was that I got back by eleven thirty."

"Must be fun to have a sibling."

"When she isn't driving me crazy, Lexi is a lot of fun to have around," Jack agreed. There was another person that also came to mind, though, when Nathan mentioned the word 'sibling'. Maybe it was the fact that Fargo had unintentionally reminded him of Ethan earlier, but Jack couldn't seem to keep his mind from going back to the time he and Faulkner had been partners and, almost, brothers.

_Seven Years Ago_

Jack's eyes slid from their target to Marshal Ethan Faulkner, Jack's new partner… a rookie. Jack wasn't sure he was ready to be the senior Marshal on his assignments, but it made him feel a bit more confidant in himself to know that his superiors believed in him enough to make him the lead Marshal on the team. Unfortunately, Ethan was one of those 'problem children' type rookies.

Ethan was good looking – and knew it – with an abrasive personality. He made ill-timed jokes, pulled pranks that were beyond childish, and Jack was starting to think that Ethan didn't know what a relationship was, given the way he was flirting with every woman they encountered. In fact, speaking of women… Ethan seemed to be watching a red headed woman who hadn't yet noticed that her skirt was riding up in the back.

Rolling his eyes, Jack whacked Ethan lightly on the back of his head. "Pay attention to our target," Jack hissed irritably.

"He's still bartering from lower priced pineapples," Ethan complained. "What's there to pay attention to?"

"Well, he and the pineapple salesman have traded confirmation codes and now they're discussing something in code. Both have passed off several pages worth of data to one another in the process of looking over the pineapples and are now preparing to finalize the sale of two pineapples that don't look like the others."

Faulkner looked suitably impressed. "Hollow or fake pineapples?"

"We'll know once we apprehend our guy," Jack responded. "With what we get off him, we ought to be able to bring in the pineapple salesman, too."

"Who knew the pineapple business was so dangerous?" Ethan laughed. Jack had to admit, the idea of pineapple stands being used for covert business was pretty ridiculous. "Oh, there he goes. Are we going to cut him off?"

"Yeah," Jack stood and they tracked their guy, herding him into an alleyway. Unfortunately, that's where things got messy. Their suspect kicked Jack's gun out of his hand and then, after Jack managed to deflect a few blows, struck Jack right in the windpipe. As Jack fell to the ground and struggled for air, he watched in surprised awe as Ethan easily fought back and put the guy in cuffs.

"Hey, Carter… Chief," Ethan's voice was worried, "come on, breathe, Jack."

Dizzily, Jack was finally able to start pulling air into his lungs again and blinked the dark spots out of his eyes. "I'll be okay," Jack rasped. "Thanks for the save."

"No problem, partner," Ethan drawled in a mock-Southern accent.

That was when Jack knew that Ethan was going to be irritating and frustrating, constantly needing to have his attention returned to the task at hand, and had the makings of a good Marshal because he was loyal. That afternoon, when they got back to their desks, Jack tore up the transfer papers, dropped them in the trash, and never considered asking for a different partner again.

Now all Jack had to do was figure out how he was going to go about polishing Ethan into the US Marshal Jack knew he could be. Watching as Ethan hit on one of the lady Marshal only to be hit on back (in a literal sense instead of the metaphorical), Jack knew this was going to take a long, long time.

_Present Day_

Abby had breezed into the Sheriff's Office that morning as if she owned the place. She hadn't sent warning ahead, though Jack wasn't too surprised to see her. Zoe's birthday was in a few days and it figured that karma would send her to him on the day of the party.

Then Nathan called, saying he had to take a rain check on lunch because Fargo had blown up something. It wasn't serious enough to call in the Sheriff, but serious enough that the Director of Operations needed to stick around because they weren't actually sure what it was that Fargo had exploded. Jack told him about Abby showing up and Nathan promised to take off earlier that afternoon than he was already planning to.

There was nothing that could be done, however, to stave off the highly awkward lunch between the ex-Carter spouses. Jack managed to divert any fights while they were at Café Diem and Abby thoroughly charmed Vince. Abby also changed the subject whenever Jack brought up Nathan or his new relationship.

Though Abby may have gotten Jo to agree that Jack shied away from the things he didn't want to do, Jack could see that Abby still didn't acknowledge the things she didn't want to see. Despite the fact that Jack had moved on, Abby still clung to the idea that her marriage to him could be saved. Not even the divorce had changed that.

Jack managed to convince Abby to stay at Beverly Barlow's Bed and Breakfast before leaving after lunch to take a call up at Seth's place. Someone had taken a walk through his field the night before and trampled two plants and Seth wanted Fargo to go to jail for it. Fargo, however, swore he'd spent most of the night at GD and fallen asleep as soon as his head hit his pillow at home. Jack's inclination was to believe Fargo because of a lack of evidence. There was one footprint, but the treads didn't match Fargo's shoes. It wasn't a jail worthy crime, anyway.

As Jack drove back to the Sheriff's office, he suddenly remembered the night when he'd thought he'd seen someone watching him with Nathan as they'd walked past Fargo's home. Well… he hadn't _thought_ it was just anyone; Jack had _thought_ he'd seen Ethan.

A shiver ran through Jack and he switched his mind over to a different problem. There was no way that Ethan Faulkner was in Eureka and there was no way he was Fargo's cousin. That went beyond coincidence, which Jack wasn't very fond of to begin with.

By the time Nathan showed up at Café Diem to help decorate, Jack was doing much better. Zoe was with Abby, showing her around town, and Nathan had greeted Jack was a kiss that made all his worries melt away.

It was in the process of decorating that Abby came racing in, panting for breath, and saying that Beverly was threatening Zoe. Jack was out of there in a rush, Nathan hot on his heels, and the race to the B&B was a blur.

The next thing Jack was certain of, however, was Zoe kneeling on the ground of the B&B's entryway cradling Ethan Faulkner, who was unconscious and bleeding from a wound on his chest. Beverly Barlow lay dead a few feet away and two guns lay discarded on the floor. Zoe just looked up at Jack and Nathan and said, "he saved me, dad. Ethan saved me. I don't understand… why?"

_Five Years Ago_

Glancing at Jack, who was still seated at his desk, Ethan shrugged and walked into the Supervisory Deputy's office, expecting to be in trouble over a prank he pulled the other day involving pizza, whoopi-cushions, and a Klingon impersonator. Never let it be said that Ethan wasn't the creative sort.

What Ethan was not expecting to see was a representative of the DOD, Dr. Allison Blake, who had helped him secure a new identity outside of Eureka. Most people who were born and raised in Eureka liked to stay there all their lives, or at least as long as they could get away with. Ethan was an exception.

Ethan wasn't cut out to be a scientist and it had left him the odd one out all through school. Not that he'd gotten anything less than A's at school, but he hadn't made friends easily. No one wanted to hang out with the guy who intended to go into law enforcement when the future physics PHDs were throwing a relativistic party. Joining the US Marshals was the best thing that ever happened to Ethan. He was grateful to Dr. Blake especially for helping him when everyone else had thought he'd be better off being forced into the mold of a scientist, that he'd grow out of this faze.

However, Ethan was also wary of Dr. Blake because she could still easily send him back and leave him trapped in labs for the rest of his life.

"Dr. Blake, what a pleasant surprise," Ethan said, smiling easily and clamping down on his fear.

"Marshal Ethan Fargo," Dr. Blake responded with a smile. "Sorry, Faulkner." It was a genuine misstep, so Ethan didn't comment. "When you were living in Eureka, I'm sure you heard rumors about Section Five at GD, correct?"

"It's where the weapons research was done," Ethan eyed the chair in front of the Supervisory Deputy's desk. He was unsurprised to see that it was just him and Dr. Black in the room; Supervisory Deputy Chen had disappeared already. "Everyone in Eureka knows that much." Coming to the conclusion that Dr. Blake was not going to ask him to sit, Ethan took the initiative and sank into the comfortable chair that was really just barely short of being a lounge chair; Ethan wondered if he could kidnap one for his own use outside…

"There's something else being kept in Section Five," Dr. Blake informed him. She handed over some paperwork, "it's a non-disclosure form allowing you special clearance for this information." Reluctantly, Ethan began signing everything. "Something known as the Artifact is being held in Section Five. It is a unique piece of technology of unknown origin that ties into something called the Akashic Field or, basically, an energy field containing all possible knowledge."

Ethan didn't think that was really possible and the scientists studying it simply didn't understand the Artifact properly, but he set his arguments aside. He knew from experience that challenging scientists with nothing more than a hunch brought down much in the way of ridicule.

"We have recently gained knowledge of a group of unknown investors and politicians that call themselves the Consortium or the Trust. There is reason to believe that they are manipulating scientists and research at Eureka. Already, there have been several potentially devastating incidents that we believe the Consortium meddled in, but in each case the person or persons who might have confirmed the DOD's beliefs either died stopping the incidents or under mysterious circumstances immediately following the events."

Dr. Blake tilted her lovely face to the side and said the words that Ethan hadn't even known he was dreading until that moment. "The DOD wants someone to infiltrate the Consortium and we want that someone to be you."

As Ethan listened with growing dread to the DOD's plan, he knew that, in the end, he'd go along with it. If he didn't and the Consortium wound up eventually destroying Eureka, Ethan knew he'd never be able to live with himself. It was just, to do so would mean betraying Jack, or at least making Jack think he'd been betrayed.

Ethan wasn't sure he could do it. He wasn't sure he could even try.

_Present Day_

Beverly Barlow was a Consortium spy sent to Eureka to monitor the progress of the Artifact and meddle in other affairs as ordered. Ethan Faulkner was really Ethan Fargo, Douglass Fargo's cousin, and a DOD plant who had successfully infiltrated the Consortium and brought the might of several Federal Agencies down on it.

Jack could barely wrap his brain around it all. He was sitting, waiting, as Ethan was operated on and trying to make sense of what he felt.

Nathan's arms around him and Zoe curled up beside him gave Jack the stability he needed to feel too upset at Allison. She'd known that Jack had been Ethan's partner; there was no way she could have overlooked something like that. She also knew that Jack was perfectly capable of keeping secrets. Yet, never once did she consider that Jack had needed to know that one of his best friends was not a traitor.

Jack was also angry at Ethan, but that was perfectly understandable. He might have felt guilty, too, about putting Ethan in jail, but it turned out Ethan hadn't spent much time there. The Consortium sprang him from prison a long time ago and replaced him with a short term robot with an AI capable of mimicking personalities. The robots had been developed by the Consortium with the hopes of replacing key personnel in various facilities, but were abandoned when the robots proved to have a very short life span. In controlled conditions, however, the robots could be swapped out without much problem. Only, in the middle of the latest 'swap', Ethan was discovered missing by a non-Consortium guard and the real Ethan decided that it was the perfect opportunity to return to Eureka and break cover.

Beverly had gotten suspicious about Ethan's reasons for being in Eureka and had finally called her superiors. Zoe and Abby unintentionally overheard some of that call and Beverly panicked. Ethan got Abby out of there and then killed Beverly while saving Zoe.

At least, that was what Allison and Zoe's explanations amounted to. Jack wasn't sure where Abby was, but he was fairly certain Jo was looking after her. The whole story wouldn't come out until Ethan's surgery was over and he woke up.

Jack wasn't sure what he was expecting from Ethan, but he felt a little vindicated that his initial friendship with Ethan had been real and that the betrayal he'd found to be so surreal had been false.

"He's out of surgery and awake," Allison announced as she walked in. "You can go see him now, Jack."

Nodding, Jack started to stand up only pause as he noticed that Zoe had fallen asleep. Carefully, he shifted her so that she had her head on Jack and Nathan's jackets. Then he stood up and pulled Nathan up after him. "I'd like it if you'd come with me."

Nathan nodded and slid his hand into Jack's, seemingly knowing exactly what Jack needed. Together, they walked into Ethan's room, a separate area that was GD's equivalent of an ICU.

"Hi, Jack," Ethan rasped out. It was funny, but Jack could suddenly see the resemblance between Ethan and Fargo. "Is Zoe okay? Dr. Blake wouldn't say anything and…"

"She's fine. You saved her, Ethan." Jack smiled briefly at the look of relief that flashed across Ethan's face.

"I'm so sorry, Jack. I never wanted you to be caught up in this; I never wanted to hurt you, Abby, or Zoe…" Ethan trailed off.

Ethan looked a lot older than his twenty-nine years; he looked like he'd been through hell and sounded like it, too.

Just like that, Jack's anger melted away. "It's okay, Ethan. I forgive you." Then he leaned forward and very lightly whapped Ethan on the head.

"Heeyyy! What was that for?" Ethan grumbled, sounding more like his old self.

"Welcome back," Jack responded with a grin. "You've missed out on a lot these past few years. I divorced Abby. This is my boyfriend, Nathan Stark."

Eying Ethan in a way that made all Fargos nervous, Nathan reached out with a hand to shake Ethan's. "It's been… interesting meeting you," Nathan offered, giving Jack a brief look that clearly said he was only doing this for Jack.

Jack shrugged and smiled gratefully at his boyfriend while Ethan watched the duo and swallowed nervously.

"Stark… as in Dr. Stark, the guy my cousin works for and is terrified of."

"Yes." Nathan sounded proud. "That would be me."

"Well…" Ethan quirked an eyebrow and said, as bravely as possible, "he's definitely a lot of steps up from Abby, Jack. Nice catch."

Seeing the look on Nathan's face, Jack couldn't help but laugh. "It's kind of weird, though, isn't it? That you're from Eureka and that Eureka is where I ended up?"

"I dunno, Jack," Ethan shrugged, yawning as the painkillers began to drag him into dreamland. "Maybe you were destined to come here." His eyes closed as he fell asleep.

For a long time, Jack's past had felt painful, as if the hurt would never leave. But Nathan had listened to him… and cared for him anyway. Then this happened; this insane collision of past and present that could only happen in Eureka.

Grinning, Jack tugged Nathan out into the hall. "You know," he whispered so as not to disturb the slumbering Zoe or be overheard by Allison, who was just down the hall, "I think that Ethan is right. Maybe I was destined to come to Eureka… and meet you."

Nathan brought a hand up to cup Jack's cheek, his thumb caressing Jack's face as he leaned close. "I don't believe in destiny, Jack… but then, I've never believed in coincidence, either." Nathan kissed Jack tenderly. "Jack… I love you."

Meeting Nathan's eyes in wonder, Jack's heart thudded so loudly he was certain it would wake Zoe. "God, Nathan…" Jack slid his arms around Nathan's shoulders so that his hands rested against Nathan's neck. "I love you, too."

A/N – This is page 36. My god… thirty-six pages. Over eleven thousand words. I swear I was possessed by this story and could not stop until everything was written. Emcey, when you gave me a few plot bunnies to play with for your 'Eureka Shorts' collection, I should have realized you were giving me the demonic ones.

List requested by Emcey:

Mistletoe (Christmas Present)

Gender-bending of the non-permanent sort (My next story)

Jack's past as a Marshal (This one)

Major AU

Something involving IBC Root Beer bottles

As many miscellaneous as possible

A/N on Ethan – He was meant to be a villain. I sat down and started writing with the intention of him being evil. Then I wrote the second flashback and Ethan was suddenly not the bad guy anymore. So Beverly died instead. If anyone's curious, Ethan sticks around Eureka for a few months on 'vacation' and then returns to the Marshals only to quit after a few more months and take up an offer made by either the FBI or NCIS. You can decide.

On Abby – I don't like her and it would take up too much space to explain why. Suffice it to say that I don't like her. I will never like her.

Emcey's Beta Note – I don't like Abby either. And… is this story not epic? Go Kit!! By the way... the plot bunnies weren't demonic when I gave them to you. What are you feeding them? I could use some for my redux rewrite...

^_^


	6. Walking in HighHeeled Shoes

Disclaimer – Okay, so I was watching an anime with gender-bending (not _Ranma_) and came up with this plot for Emcey's list. Um… I mean… I don't own _Eureka_.

Author - KitKatt0430

Teaser – Jack looked like he was about to throttle Fargo and then go on a killing spree of the other occupants of the room. Nathan wanted to calm the Sheriff down, but he couldn't stop snickering… though the identical smirks on Allison and Henry's faces probably weren't helping either…

September 4, 2010 - Minor editing accomplished by Kit. :)

_**Walking in High-Heeled Shoes**_

She was actually rather pretty, despite the murderous expression on her face. She looked somewhat like a cross between Zoe and Lexi Carter with pixie-cut, California blonde hair. Her eyes, though, were unmistakably Jack Carter's… because that was exactly who 'she' was.

Nathan couldn't help it. Having taken just one look at Jack Carter's current predicament, there really was only one response: laughter. Even after covering his mouth with his hands, Nathan couldn't keep the snickers away. Fargo's latest screw-up had turned the Sheriff in a girl.

It was classic; a new cliché to cross off the list along with alchemy, androids, teleporters, and invisibility.

"Awww…" Allison sounded caught somewhere between sad and ecstatic. She went with ecstatic, though. "Jack, you make such a cute girl!"

Henry joined in with Nathan's laughing.

"I… I do not!" Jack paused for a moment, his – or her, really – expression going from murderous to horrified in a matter of seconds. Her hands leapt up to cover her throat and her eyes closed as the full extent of her mortification began to dawn on her. She had a woman's voice now. "Just shoot me now," Jack groaned, her hands moving away from her throat so that she could let her head drop into them. "Tell me," she continued in a louder, though slightly muffled, voice, "that this is reversible."

"Oh, it's reversible," Henry responded, growing instantly serious. "Fargo's explosion made the machine do something it wasn't designed to do, and now it's broken, but I can fix it and make the necessary alterations so that you'll be back to your old self in… a reasonable amount of time."

Peeking over the tips over her fingers, Jack's blue eyes were narrowed to slits. "How long is 'reasonable'? Are we talking a few days?"

"Um…" Henry winced as Jack's hands fell away and it became obvious that her expression was growing murderous once more. "More like a couple of weeks… a month, tops. I'll need the time to run simulations first. We, uh, wouldn't want to turn you into something else, after all."

Jack took a deep breath and let it out slowly, something Nathan had noticed the Sheriff tended to do during particularly stressful times when he – or, now, she – wanted to calm down and think rationally. This time, though, it didn't seem to work. "Fargo, I'm going to kill you," Jack declared in a preternaturally calm tone. Jack looked like she was about to throttle Fargo and then go on a killing spree of the other occupants of the room. Nathan wanted to calm the Sheriff down, but he couldn't stop snickering… though the identical smirks on Allison and Henry's faces probably weren't helping either…

Fargo, looking rightfully frightened, let out a mouse-like squeak and then fled the room. Given the circumstances, it was probably the smartest thing that Fargo had done all day.

Finally controlling his laughter, Nathan asked in a faux-innocent tone, "now Sheriff, what kind of example would murder set for the town?"

"That's its perfectly fine when you've been screwed over by an experiment," Jack growled.

Managing not to flush at the sound of Jack's voice, Nathan filed away the fact that Jack sounded sexy when his voice got gruffer no matter which gender he was at the time to analyze later. "Look, since you're going to be stuck this way for a while, you need to calm down and think about what's got to happen next. How are you going to deal with this, Carter?"

This time, Jack's deep-breath therapy seemed to work. "Right… you're right, Stark." The words didn't even sound forced. Carter was doing a good job of calming down after all. "I've got to…"

Eva Thorne walked in and practically squealed in delight, completely derailing Jack's train of though. Clasping her hands together over her chest, Eva circled Jack and then turned to Allison. "We've got to take her shopping!"

Allison nodded, nearly bouncing, with a big grin on her face. "You're right!" The two women latched onto Jack's arms and began to steer her out of the room.

"Stark! Henry! Help!" Jack yelped as fear made her voice rise in pitch as she spoke.

"Sorry, Jack," Henry waved his hands helplessly and gestured to the machine, though his expression belied his words. "I should get to work on this right away."

"Carter, I hate to tell you this," Nathan smirked. "You're on your own." The door shut behind Carter once Eva and Allison had the protesting Sheriff in the hallway.

"When this is over, we'll all be very lucky if Jack doesn't shoot us all," Henry commented with a chuckle.

"It's worth it," Nathan decided, hopping up on one of the stools and looking at the blueprints for the device. "Though…" his thoughts were racing, "someone _really_ ought to let his sister and daughter know that Jack Carter is now… Jacqueline Carter."

Henry snorted and then shook his head, "are you really going to call him that?"

"I don't know. Maybe I _will_ call _her_ that." Snickering, Nathan picked up his cell phone and accessed the Eureka 'yellow pages' option and dialed one of the phone numbers. After a few moments, the call was picked up by none other than Lexi Carter.

'Hello? Lexi Carter speaking.'

"Hello, Miss Carter, this is Dr. Nathan Stark."

"Is something wrong with Jack?"

"Your brother is unharmed," Nathan quickly assured her. "Though, there has been an… accident. Carter was caught by a malfunctioning device and the side effects are… unusual."

"'Unusual? How?"

"Tell me, Miss Carter…"

'Please, call me Lexi. Miss Carter sounds stuffy.'

Smiling faintly, Nathan continued, "Lexi, then. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a sister instead of a brother?"

* * *

The next time Nathan saw Jack was that evening, around nine o'clock, at Café Diem. By then, the fact that Sheriff Carter had temporarily become a girl had made its way around the gossip mill and become old news. This was fortunate for Jack, because it mean that she was left in peace to wallow in misery. Well, correction; she'd been left in peace until Nathan arrived.

The temptation to sit down next to her and torment Jack was simply too strong.

"This is entirely your fault," Jack said. She didn't even bother to glance at Nathan.

"What is? You're going to have to be more specific." Nathan grinned impishly. This was going to be fun.

"Everything," Jack snapped, turning to face Nathan. "Everything that's gone wrong today is your fault. You're the one who called me down to GD, you're the one who alerted Eva Thorne that she should show up at the lab, and you're the one who called Lexi, who told Jo. Eva, Allison, Lexi, and Jo took me to the nearby city to go shopping at the mall. It was _hell_ and it was your fault. They're taking me back there again tomorrow and _that's_ your fault too.

"In fact," Jack was really getting into the rant now, "even things completely unrelated to me are your fault… like Pluto not getting to be a planet anymore or Al Gore winning the Nobel Peace Prize for trying to stop global warming… which has nothing to do with world peace."

Nathan snickered. Jack glared. Vince and Zoe both decided to serve customers whose names were not Nathan Stark or Jack Carter.

"So, I was supposed to save Pluto's status as planet, become the next Gandhi, and save you from losing your manhood. Have I got that right... Jacqueline?" Nathan knew he was evil, but it was so much fun…

Jack's expression morphed into one of abject horror and pure loathing. "I hate you so much," she growled. "Words cannot even begin to express the full extent of my hatred towards you."

Stifling his laughter, Nathan began to feel a little bad about tormenting Jack. Her day had clearly been bad enough as it was. "I'm sorry."

A stunned look crossed Jack's face and then she beamed at him. It was the same smile that had always seemed to make Nathan's pulse speed up just a little and even now he could feel his heartbeat pick up.

"Don't worry about it," her smile faded away as she spoke. "I needed someone to vent at and you let yourself be that person, even if it was so you could poke fun at me. Besides, if you were the one who'd been turned into a woman, I'd have teased you."

"You'd have been nicer about it," Nathan conceded after a moment, "and I'd have been angrier at everyone."

"I do, however, know what girly name I'd have bestowed upon you," Jack joked with a lopsided grin. "Nate is a nickname for Nathan and it isn't really much of a leap from that to Natalie."

Nathan nodded mock-solemnly. "If I ever turn into a girl, I swear not to hurt you if you call me that."

"Good, 'cause I so deserve to take my revenge if you do get turned into a woman." Jack paused and then flagged down his daughter.

"Yes… _Mom_? What would you like for dinner?" Zoe laughed at the sound of her father's outraged cry of '_Zoe_!' "Sorry, Dad, I couldn't resist. Really, though, are you okay?" She eyed Nathan as though he were some sort of omen of evil.

"I'm fine," Jack reassured his daughter. "Now… about dinner…"

* * *

By the end of the week, Nathan felt for the first time since meeting Jack Carter that he was trying to fool himself. Nathan had always acknowledged the fact that gender had no bearing on who he was attracted to. Instead it was a person's mind that intrigued him; personality, wit, intelligence… these were what brought other people to his attention. Though being easy on the eyes was certainly a plus, too.

Jack was definitely easy on the eyes. As a man, Jack was handsome and, as a woman, Jack was beautiful. He also had a sharp wit, which had not diminished as a she. Jack's personality was also the outgoing, caring type that Nathan liked. Finally, as much as Nathan was reluctant to admit it, Jack had an intuitive intelligence that defied IQ exams and proved how outdated those tests really were.

The truth was that Nathan was attracted to Jack Carter and it wasn't just some temporary thing. Up until now, Nathan had managed to convince himself that he was still in love with Allison and that his feelings for Jack were just hormones. Even after Allison turned down Nathan's proposal and he accepted that he wasn't really in love with her anymore, Nathan had refused to acknowledge the truth. Except Jack was now a woman and Nathan still felt the attraction for _her_ as strongly as he had for _him_.

There was simply no more denying what he felt. Unfortunately, this meant he'd spent the past year and a half pushing away the man he was in love with.

Well, crap.

Therefore, where Nathan had spent the past week purposely seeking out Jack in order to simultaneously help her ignore her embarrassment over her predicament and generally irritate the hell out of her, Nathan found himself avoiding her for the next several days. He really wasn't sure how to react to Jack now that he'd made himself admit his feelings – at least to himself – and Nathan especially didn't think that confessing his love to Jack while Jack was trapped in a woman's body would go over well.

All of this, however, contributed to why Jack Carter showed up in Nathan's office and slammed the door shut behind her one week and four days after turning into a woman.

"What the hell is your problem?" Jack demanded, standing beside the chair in front of Nathan's desk and refusing to sit. Instead, she crossed her arms and glared.

"What…? You barge into my office, slam the door, and ask what _my_ problem is?" was the incredulous, if slightly unoriginal reply.

If anything, Jack's eyes narrowed further. "You've been avoiding me. Don't bother to deny it, because we both know you'd be lying. What is going on here, Stark?"

Oh fuck…

"I've been busy," Nathan protested anyway. "Just because I'm not taking time out of that busy schedule to see you…" he trailed off and then asked, "let's put aside whether or not I'm avoiding you. Why do you want to see me so badly?"

The sheriff blushed. Oh, he was truly much easier to read as a woman. "I don't… that is, I'm not…"

"You're attracted to me." Nathan sat up straighter in his chair and then leaned forward. He managed to lock his green eyes with Jack's blue ones before she could panic and run off. "Is this a _recent_," he pitched the word so it'd be obvious what time period he was referring to, "development or…?" Nathan trailed off and hoped for the best.

"I-I…" Jack stammered, still blushing. "It's not recent," she said and then dropped into the chair. "Fine. Are you happy now? I've been attracted to you for a long, long time now and nothing has changed recently. That doesn't answer the question of why you're avoiding me."

Nathan's heart began beating a staccato rhythm in his chest. "Because I'm attracted to you too," Nathan responded. If Jack could be honest, then so could he. "It isn't a recent attraction either. And being attracted to you irregardless of your gender can only mean one thing; that my feelings for you aren't going to fade away. I didn't think bringing that up now, while you're still not quite yourself would be a good idea."

There was silence and Nathan had to restrain the urge to fidget. Fidgeting was a habit that he'd nearly managed to kick, but when he was _this_ nervous it came right back. It started with a twitchy need to tap his fingers or a foot…

"Why did you think your feelings for me would fade away?" Jack finally asked.

"I accepted the job as Director of Operations at GD in order to fix my marriage with Allie, except you were here flirting with her, flirting with _me_, and generally confusing everything." Nathan shrugged. "At first I didn't want to accept that Allison and I had completely failed at our relationship; acknowledging my feelings for you would have meant admitting to myself that I wasn't in love with Allison anymore. After she turned down my proposal, though, I wound up doing that anyway, but… by then I figured you were as close to hating me as possible, so I ignored my feelings."

Jack nodded slowly, her eyes a bit distant as though her thoughts were elsewhere. Then those beautiful blue eyes locked with Nathan's and it was all he could do to sit and stare as Jack stood up, moved around the desk, and then leaned over to lock her lips with his.

As far as kisses go, their first kiss was pretty mind-blowing. But, afterwards, Nathan wondered what it would feel like when Jack was a man again.

* * *

The first thing Jack did after being turned back into a man was get back into his normal clothes and then, in a very strained voice, inform Allison, Eva, Lexi, and Jo (who were all present at the gender-reversal) that he was never going shopping with them again. "Hell," he declared in a very pained tone, "is walking in high-heeled shoes and being forced to smile while having my feet tortured. It is never to happen again."

The second thing Jack did was thoroughly kiss Nathan… in front the ladies plus Henry, Fargo, and Zane. There were several cat-calls, one 'I didn't need to see my brother do this', one panicked 'Dr. Stark?', and one 'it's like seeing my parents make out. Jo, hide my eyes…'.

The kissing couple, however, heard none of this.

Where kissing female Jack had been a lot like kissing Allison, but much more explosive, kissing male Jack was the explosiveness without the softness. Jack's mouth was hot, demanding, and oh so addictive; it was all Nathan could do to hang on to Jack as the man who'd entered Nathan's life by turning it upside down continued to rock Nathan's world… by becoming his world.

A/N – To be honest, I'm a bit surprised no one's used a gender-bending machine before. It would make a great plot device to allow for pregnant!Jack or pregnant!Nathan. Of course, it's also fun to play with without the baby complications. If anyone wants to use the gender-bending device, feel free to do so… and not just with these two lovely characters.


	7. Meant To Be

Disclaimer – I hug my Eureka DVDs before I watch them… so that they know they're being loved, not abused. I mean… I don't own Eureka.

Author – Emcey

A/N – I feel so intimidated by Kit's "Collision". I mean… it was longer than all the previous stories combined and was awesome. I keep looking at my plot bunnies and wonder… are any of them going to turn into a fantastic story like that? I certainly hope so. :) However, this is going to be decidedly shorter than Kit's 11,000+++ word epic.

Info – AU after the dream episode from second season.

Teaser – This was the second time today that Jack had placed himself between Nathan and the possibility of death. It was the first time, however, that Nathan completely froze and wished that Jack was somewhere else, somewhere _safe_. Watching Jack step up to protect him again and remembering Jack's words from earlier, Nathan felt as though he was in the midst of an epiphany, as though he was about to experience some sort of paradigm shift, and he _needed_ Jack to be there, alive and well, when it was all over.

September 4, 2010 - The editing spree visited here.

_**Meant To Be**_

Nathan heard the blaring of the alarm distantly, the sound filing away to the same part of his mind that was counting down the time he had left to fix the experiment before the room exploded. This particular experiment involved opening small subspace windows and studying the differences between normal space and subspace. A malfunction had occurred that was attempting to fix itself by destroying the lab and a great deal of the surrounding area.

Everyone else had evacuated already, but Nathan wanted to try and salvage the experiment. While he hadn't been directly in charge of the subspace window research, he had been keeping tabs on it. Until today, subspace had been proving itself to be a veritable 'goldmine' of revelations.

Unfortunately, Dr. Solaris, who had been in charge of the experiment, tended to bite off more than he could chew. Solaris had seen how well things were progressing and decided to push forward faster than his approved timetable. One of the lab assistants had died during the day's initial malfunction and Solaris had had the temerity to blame the dead woman for everything that had gone wrong. So when Nathan had watched Carter slap some handcuffs on Solaris, he'd decided against interfering. Solaris deserved a little jail time.

Allison had, however, reluctantly gone to bat for Solaris. Technically, the man hadn't done anything illegal and, as the Director of Operations at GD, it was Allie's job to keep Carter from tossing her scientists in jail without a really good reason.

Meanwhile, the malfunction had grown worse. At first, Nathan and Henry had been working on it without really worrying too much. Except it kept growing and their efforts did little, if anything, to correct the initial problem. So Henry oversaw the evacuation of that particular floor and Nathan continued trying to find a solution.

There wasn't much time left, but all Nathan needed was a few minutes. Just a few more minutes and… maybe that lab assistant wouldn't have died for nothing.

Maybe Nathan could make up for a little bit of his own mess with the dream device, which was still whirring away in Kevin's room. He couldn't even go in Kevin's room anymore without imagining the face of the dead truck driver, Fargo in the medical center of GD, Jo unable to stand, and Carter just seconds away from drowning in that tank…

"Stark! You've got to get out of here!" speaking of Carter…

"I've almost fixed it," Nathan snapped, not bothering to look at Jack.

One of Carter's hands grabbed onto Nathan's shoulder. "There isn't enough time. You'll die here if you don't go, now."

"I can still fix this, Carter," Nathan growled, still giving the console his concentration.

"Then I guess I'm staying, too," Jack drawled. His voice was a little shaky, though. For a moment, Nathan's mind wandered. Nathan knew he could make his idea work and stop the explosion… if he had five more minutes and he was suddenly overwhelmed by the realization that he only had four.

"Fine." Nathan looked away from the console. "There isn't enough time. Let's get out of here."

It took three minutes to reach the elevator and thirty seconds for them to get inside and close the doors. The explosion rocked the elevator and then locked it in place with the doors halfway above the floor and halfway below. Fortunately, this meant they could just manually open both sets of doors and climb out.

The corridor was empty, which suited Nathan just fine. He'd just failed again and didn't want anyone to see him at the moment. Bad enough, after all, that Carter was there. Why was Carter there, anyway?

"Carter?" Nathan asked, catching the Sheriff's attention. "Why did you go back for me?" He expected some trite response about doing his job, but for some reason Nathan had to hear it from Carter's lips before he could be certain.

Instead, Jack shrugged. "I went back because I knew that was where I was meant to be."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Nathan grumbled.

"Look, what do you want me to say, Stark? It's not in my job description to save scientists from their inability to acknowledge their own limitations," Jack sounded angrier than Nathan could ever recall hearing Carter before. "My job is to protect the people of this town, but if some moron chooses to stay behind and die then that's that. It's not my duty to risk my life on the off chance I can get that idiot to see sense. The only problem was this time you were the moron too caught up in trying to fix the disaster to realize that there wasn't any time to do it in. Nothing is ever simple when you're involved."

In college, Nathan had once hit someone for calling him a moron. Hearing the word applied to him by Jack, though… Jack was right. Nathan had been stupid and initially overestimated the time he had left. He'd been too caught up in saving the science to consider saving himself. Instead of angering him, Jack's words made Nathan feel ashamed.

And what did it say about him that the only person who felt the need to save Nathan Stark was Jack Carter?

But then Henry was running down the hall towards them, Allison and Fargo on Henry's heels, and there was no time to contemplate what it was that made Jack go back for him… or what it was about that Jack that had made Nathan _listen_.

* * *

Nathan wound up at Café Diem alone for dinner that evening. There was still a great deal of paperwork to go over and Allison was left with the decision of reassigning the subspace project and having it start over or scrapping it altogether. She was taking Nathan's advice and firing Dr. Solaris, though.

Solaris was probably in the midst of watching a redaction team clear out his home. After trying to pin the blame for screwing up the experiment on the dead lab assistant – Nathan had learned the woman's name was Jane Doughtry – being redacted wasn't really the worst thing that could have been done to Solaris. Personally, Nathan had wanted Carter to arrest the man for attempting to falsify his report and reckless endangerment, but Allison had refused to go for it.

"Dr. Stark?"

Startled, Nathan looked up to see the angry face of Dr. Solaris glowering down on him. "Solaris?" Nathan purposefully left off his title. Solaris was definitely not in his good books right now.

"I've been redacted."

"So I've heard," Nathan drawled, his eyes narrowing. Just what did Solaris want with him, anyway?

"I've been redacted on your recommendation."

Oh… so that was what Solaris' problem was; Solaris was clearly a brain dead moron. "Dr. Blake was going to redact you regardless. You blamed your mistakes on Dr. Doughtry, Solaris. So, yes, I recommended you for redaction only to learn that there was already a redaction team on the way to your house. You're being redacted because you made yourself into a liability."

"No!" Solaris shook his head. "I'm one of the most brilliant scientists in this town! Just because you were incompetent enough to nearly destroy Section Five with that thing kept down there doesn't mean that everyone else is so stupid…" Solaris backed off, his mouth clamping shut in surprise.

Nathan hadn't even realized he was standing up until he was towering over Solaris, his hands clenched angrily. He opened his mouth to speak only to be cut off by the calm, soothing voice of Jack Carter.

"Solaris, the redaction team needs you to inspect your house for any missed belongings and then check into the Bed and Breakfast. Apparently not everything is going as smoothly as usual since Beverly isn't here." Jack waited for a few moments until Solaris had taken a few steps back and was clearly leaving before adding in an unusually frigid tone, "also, the events you just referenced involving Section Five and Kim Anderson's death, are classified. Revealing that information would break your confidentiality contract, which, if I remember correctly, is an offense punishable with time in a high-security prison. I'm sure you'd hate to be redacted and arrested all in the same day. So why don't you keep your mouth shut from now on?"

Solaris' eyes watched hatefully as he looked between the two and then he stormed out of Café Diem.

Lightly setting his hand against Nathan's arm, Jack gave the scientist a concerned look. "Are you alright?"

Letting out a sigh, Nathan slumped back into his chair and shook his head negatively. "Not really. Look, I… I appreciate your stepping in there and getting me out of that lab, earlier."

A small smile appeared on Jack's face, lighting him up in a way that Nathan had noticed before but not really paid all that much attention to. Watching him now, though, Nathan found the expression to be rather captivating. "You're welcome, Stark," he drawled. "I don't really know what's going on with Kevin," he added in a quieter voice meant only for Nathan to hear, "but I do know that something's wrong with him and its putting a lot of stress on you right now. While I may not be good for helping with the science aspect, if you need someone to talk to or vent at… don't hesitate, okay?"

Then Jack was walking off and Nathan sat there feeling stunned. No one had noticed how things had been weighing on him lately. At least, that's what he'd thought.

Jack had been there for Nathan during those hours after Callister died, letting Nathan be angry and grieve without judging him for caring so much about an artificially created intelligence. Nathan had wanted to pursue the possibility of friendship afterwards, but stressful situations kept building up and he pushed Jack away instead. It was one thing after another and now Kevin might be dying.

God… the idea of losing his only remaining son scared the hell out of Nathan. Yet here was Jack offering the same thing he gave so freely the last time Nathan had needed someone to be there for him. A sort of warm feeling kindled in Nathan's chest as he glanced over to where Jack was sitting and having dinner with Zoe.

Then the sound of gunshots split the night. There were two at first, followed by a third after a few agonizing seconds had passed. Jack had already left his seat, running for the doors to the café. Everyone else was panicking, though Nathan found himself following after Jack.

It was already dark outside and one of the streetlamps had burned out, which made it hard to see. Jack advised the outdoor diners to go inside, which they did without complaint. His cell phone began to ring and Nathan watched as the Sheriff moved to answer it while simultaneously drawing his own gun.

"Freeze right there, Sheriff Carter," Solaris snapped, hurrying into the light. He had his gun trained on Jack and a sneer on his face. "You both think you're so special. The prodigy scientist," the gun gestured to Nathan, alerting Jack to his presence outside for the first time since running out of the café, "and the first non-military Sheriff in Eureka. But you're nothing… both of you are nothing compared to me. And when you're gone, no one will miss you… stop moving!"

Jack halted in between Nathan and Solaris. This was the second time today that Jack had placed himself between Nathan and the possibility of death. It was the first time, however, that Nathan completely froze and wished that Jack was somewhere else, somewhere _safe_. Watching Jack step up to protect him again and remembering Jack's words from earlier, Nathan felt as though he was in the midst of an epiphany, as though he was about to experience some sort of paradigm shift, and he _needed_ Jack to be there, alive and well, when it was all over.

In the corridor, in the moments after the explosion, Jack had told Nathan that he'd felt as though the lab was where he was meant to be. He'd felt that saving Nathan was what he was meant to do.

Now, watching as Solaris pointed a gun at Jack, Nathan knew that this could not be the end. Without meaning to, Nathan had let Jack through his boundaries and into his life and found that the imaginative man grounded him when he needed to concentrate and distracted him when he needed an escape. Jack wasn't just meant to save Nathan from danger; Jack was meant to save Nathan from himself. With Jack around, Nathan strove to do better than he already did, to achieve things he'd once thought impossible. Except he'd always thought he did that to spite Jack.

It wasn't true, though. Nathan strove to be a better person because of Jack.

Of course, having a life-altering epiphany while there was a madman waving a gun around was probably _not_ the greatest timing ever. Especially considering that the epiphany was making him tune out the madman's ravings.

"Get out of my way, Sheriff," Solaris snarled. "You're a small-brained twit, so I can forgive your words earlier, but if you don't get out of my way I will shoot you."

Jack also had his gun out and kept it trained steadily on Solaris. His hands never wavered, unlike Solaris whose hands were shaking badly. "I can't do that, Solaris," Jack responded calmly. "You need to put the gun down, Solaris, and surrender peacefully."

"Sorry, Sheriff," Solaris smirked cruelly and then parroted, "I can't do that."

The air split with the sound of two gunshots and then Solaris dropped to the ground like a lead weight. For a moment, Jack stood there with his gun lowered and stared.

Then Jack dropped to his knees, the gun slipping from his hands.

"Jack!" Nathan almost didn't recognize his own voice as he surged forward and caught Jack before the Sheriff crumpled to the ground completely. Putting his hand over the wound on Jack's left shoulder, Nathan began applying pressure and tried not to worry about things like arteries or veins or the heart being nicked by the bullet. For now, the important thing was to keep Jack from bleeding out before the ambulance to GD arrived.

Zoe appeared suddenly and knelt beside Nathan. "Daddy?" she whispered hoarsely.

Jack reached out and held her hand while Nathan watched numbly. "Don't worry…" Jack managed to say. "I've been hurt worse before." Unfortunately, knowing that Jack probably had been hurt worse before didn't make anything better. Then Jack's blue eyes, dulled by pain, met Nathan's and he said in a voice growing in strength, "I'm not exactly like everyone else. I've got dextrocardia."

"What's that?" Zoe's voice was hitting higher pitches than usual.

"It means that his heart is on the right side of the chest instead of the left side like everyone else's," Nathan filled in with relief. He was pretty certain the bullet hole was too high to have punctured a lung. "It means that your father will be fine."

Glancing over at Solaris' prone form, Nathan had no illusions that Jack's shot had done anything other than kill the man. After all the deaths lately, Nathan was surprised to find that Solaris' death inspired nothing more than relief. Solaris couldn't hurt anyone else anymore.

Feeling someone grasp his free hand, Nathan looked away from Solaris to see that Jack had linked their hands together. Not knowing what else to do, Nathan squeezed his hand lightly and waited as the sirens that were coming into being in the distance quickly moved closer.

* * *

Zoe walked out of Jack's room while Nathan watched, feeling oddly jealous. He wanted nothing more than to walk into that room and talk to Jack and tell him… well, Nathan wasn't sure what he'd say, just that he wanted to tell Carter just how he felt. Except Nathan was fairly certain that Jack wasn't going to want to see him and, since Nathan wasn't Jack's doctor at the moment, he had no excuse to walk in there and talk to him anyway.

Surveying the room, Zoe's eyes alighted on Nathan and she smiled before making her way across the hall to where he stood. "My dad wants to talk to you," she announced brightly. "So stop sulking or brooding or whatever you want to call it and go see him."

"I'm not sulking," Nathan grumbled. When Zoe's face lit up with a grin, he felt rather pleased.

"Fine, brooding. Just get going already."

Rolling his eyes, Nathan walked away from her and into Jack's room. He heard the door snick closed behind him and then it hit him. He was completely alone with Jack for the first time since that ill-timed epiphany. Swallowing nervously, Nathan seated himself beside Jack's bed, looked into the blue eyes that were watching him, and said, "Zoe told me that you wanted to talk."

"I just… I was wondering why you followed me out of Café Diem."

"Oh…" Nathan swallowed. The truth was that he had no idea why he did it, just that it happened. "Because…" Nathan wet his lips, absently noting the way Jack's eyes followed the motion. "It felt like I was meant to," he responded finally, unconsciously echoing Jack's words from earlier that day. "I shouldn't have, though. If I hadn't been there, Solaris wouldn't have shot you."

"No, he was going to shoot me regardless. Seeing you there made him want to shoot you first, that's all. You're smarter than he was and he hated you for that. You could've saved that subspace project if there'd been a little more time and that's something he could never have done. But I still insulted him in front of everyone inside of Café Diem and tried to arrest him twice in a matter of hours. There was no way he could have not wanted to shoot me." Jack paused and then reached out to grab Nathan's hand the way he had before. "Besides, if you hadn't been there to apply pressure to the gunshot wound, I might have bled out before reaching GD."

Nathan had forgotten the fact that Jack might have bled out. Thinking of it now sent a cold chill through his body. "Jack…" Nathan had to stop and get his voice under control. "I think I get it now."

"Get what?"

"Why you came back for me in the lab when there was barely enough time for us to get out before everything exploded."

"Alright," Jack looked amused. "Why did I do it?"

Giving himself time for just one more nervous movement (Nathan licked his lips, which Jack was definitely watching very closely), Nathan leaned over and captured Jack's mouth with his own. It started as a tentative kiss because he didn't want to hurt Jack and he wasn't 100 percent certain Jack would kiss back. But the pressure he felt against his lips in return, as well as the tongue that snaked out to part Nathan's lips and deepen the kiss told Nathan all he needed to know.

Right here, right now, this was where they were meant to be.

A/N – Aww… I may have gotten Jack shot, but he get to make out with Nathan afterwards, so I'm sure he'll forgive me.


	8. IBC

Disclaimer – If I owned Eureka, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction, now would I? No… I'd be writing episodes and tie-in novels. :)

Author – KitKatt0430

Teaser – Carter walked in, acting as though he was completely unaware of Nathan's bewildered stare, and set a six pack of IBC down on the empty lab table. "It's a lab-warming present," Jack drawled in explanation. "I'd have brought something stronger, but I'm still on duty and you're still on the clock."

Info – AU after episode 2x02 and Kevin wasn't affected by the Artifact. Sorry, Kev, you don't get the major plotline anymore.

A/N – (Shameless plug) I just thought you might like to know that I've made two Eureka fanvids that can be found on YouTube. Just find my profile – KitKatt0430 – if you want to check out the vids. :)

September 4, 2010 - I have edited the story for spelling and grammar issues.

_**Of New Labs, Root Beer, and Odd Conversations**_

Nathan looked around his new lab. He didn't have a project yet, but Allison was likely to assign him something that would keep him busy enough to stay out of her hair while giving him enough leeway to fix anything the other scientists might screw up. Not that he was immune to screwing up, as recent events had proven.

Looks like the saying about 'the higher they are, the harder they fall' applied to intellect, too. The smarter a person is, the more monumental their messes are. Like getting his best friend's girlfriend killed and destroying – deactivating… whatever – an artifact that likely held the answers to, well, everything. That was certainly monumental as fair as screw ups went.

"There you are."

Jerking around, Nathan stared at the door where Carter stood. "What do you want, Carter?" Nathan demanded, not in the mood to deal with the good Sheriff.

Carter walked in, acting as though he was completely unaware of Nathan's bewildered stare, and set a six pack of IBC down on the empty lab table. "It's a lab-warming present," Jack drawled in explanation. "I'd have brought something stronger, but I'm still on duty and you're still on the clock."

"Lab-warming," Nathan repeated incredulously. This was clearly something on the level with 'invisibling' and 'death ray'.

"Yeah." Jack shrugged and then snagged two of the root beers. Passing one to Nathan, he held on to one for himself. "Much like a house-warming gift, it's something done to make a person feel more at home somewhere."

"Carter…"

"I'm trying to be nice," Carter's smile dropped off his face, but his eyes were honest. "I get that you don't particularly like me, but would it hurt that much to humor me?"

Looking down at the IBC in his hand, Nathan snorted softly and smiled, shaking his head slowly. "Why not?" he muttered. Looking up, he pulled the top off the bottle and raised it in a mock toast. "Thanks, Carter."

The smile reappeared on Carter's face and he clinked his bottle against Nathan's before opening it and taking a drink. "I'm glad you decided to stick around."

"Really? I'd have thought you couldn't wait to get rid of me."

"Nah," Carter snagged a chair with his foot and slid it over. Taking a seat, he twirled the bottle around in his hands. "I suppose I've gotten a little attached to having you around."

"I find that hard to believe," Nathan responded. Though, really, he had to admit that maybe it _wasn't_ that hard to believe. After all, here Carter was with a peace offering.

"Lying doesn't become you, Stark," Carter responded quietly.

Surprise overtook Nathan's expression before he could school himself. "What…"

"You're harder to read than most people, but figuring out what makes people tick is part of my job description. Besides, you look slightly to the left when you lie. I first noticed when I asked about Carlson and you said he'd transferred," Jack responded. "Allison had already said you told her the same thing, but it didn't fit with what had happened to him."

"So you asked me in order to gauge my reaction?" Nathan took a drink of his IBC and regarded Carter quizzically. "That's… rather sneaky of you, Sheriff. Trying to get an edge up on the competition?"

Carter shrugged and gave a little sardonic smile. "No. Just trying to understand you."

Feeling a little nonplussed, Nathan pulled over a chair and sat down as well. "Why do you want to understand me? We can usually barely stand each other."

"Well, there's the fact that you're the only person in town willing to make Andy Griffith jokes around me. I used to watch that show with my Dad all the time as a kid, so I actually rather appreciate the humor. Everyone else still acts like, even after almost a year, that I'm going to be so touchy about being a Sheriff instead of a Marshal that I'll snap or something."

"So you like that I insult you?"

"I like that you don't walk on eggshells around me," Jack clarified. "As for you acting insultingly towards me… well, you're that way to everyone so, unlike everyone else… even Henry or Allison, you don't treat me differently from everybody even though my IQ is at least two thirds the town average."

"Huh…" Nathan hadn't ever really noticed being that way. Normally he was too busy being annoyed by how uncanny it was that a man who said 'invisibling' and knew virtually nothing about science could be _right_ about how to solve the town's problems _every time_. "As proud as I am of my IQ score, I've always thought the test was ridiculous. Not everyone thinks the same way, but that doesn't make a person less intelligent."

"Besides, there's something to be said for common sense, which some scientist around here seem to lack," Jack added.

"Fargo."

"And Larry. I don't know if you've had the displeasure of meeting Larry, yet, but…"

"I've met him," Nathan cut in. "I hope never to repeat the experience. There's only so many weasels I can tolerate in one day and he fills the entire quota."

Jack laughed and his blue eyes seemed to glimmer. Nathan started in surprise, though hopefully not too noticeably. He'd never paid all that much attention to Jack's eyes before, but surely he had noticed how attractive they were before. So why was he only just now seeing that sparkle…?

"I dunno… I always think of chihuahuas. You know, chihuahuas try to disguise themselves as dogs – man's best friend – when really they're just over grown rodents."

Nathan snickered and his eyes met Jack's again… and his mouth went dry. Hastily, he took a drink of his root beer and was surprised to find it was almost empty.

"I know they aren't really ROUSs, but they still look that way," Jack continued.

"_The Princess Bride_!" Nathan exclaimed with glee. "I love that movie."

"So do I," Jack admitted. "Princess Buttercup is mostly useless, but the other characters were such fun. There's a new movie out, _Stardust_, that's just as good. I don't suppose you've heard of it?"

"I've seen it," Nathan replied. "I'll never, ever look at a Robert DiNero movie the same way again. He played Captain Shakespeare very well."

"I know what you mean," Jack laughed again. "Shakespeare had to be my favorite character." Shaking his empty bottle, Jack stood up and stretched. Nathan's eyes roved over his body for a moment, taking the time to actually appreciate what he was seeing. "Looks like its time for me to get back to work."

"Yeah…" Nathan put his drink on the table and stood, shadowing Jack to the door, where the Sheriff dropped his bottle into the trashcan. "Thanks, Sheriff."

"We should talk more often," Jack said brightly. "That was actually rather fun."

"Are you free for dinner tonight?" Nathan froze. He hadn't meant to say that out loud, but…

"Zoe has a study-group thing at Pilar's tonight, so yeah… I'm free." Jack studied Nathan closely for a minute and then nodded. "Café Diem at seven?"

"It's a date," Nathan declared boldly.

"A date," Jack echoed in agreement.

Maybe this demotion thing would turn out for the best after all…

A/N - Does anyone else think that Tess is supposed to be the softer, blunter, female version of Stark meant as Carter's alternative love interest in order to quell the annoyance of Jack/Nathan fans who want the snarky-romance banter put back into the show? Don't get me wrong, I kind of like Tess and I sensed a little sparkage between her and Allison at the beginning, but… things would be better if Nathan came back.

I'm liking Zane's facial fuzz, though. The facial fuzz isn't quite a beard yet, but its cute on him. He and Jo are just… I like them together so much. :)


	9. Comfort

Disclaimer – There is a distinct lack of ownership on my part when it comes to the show _Eureka_.

Author – Emcey_Squared

Teaser – No one else seemed to notice the way Nathan froze as the identity of their 'otherworldly' visitor was announced.

September4, 2010 - The editing spree dusted off this piece a little.

_**Comfort**_

They'd only been together for a few weeks, though he'd been denying his feelings for Jack much longer. Already, though, Nathan felt possessive of Jack in a way he'd never been for anyone else. Not even Allison had made him feel this way, though he'd certainly been jealous because of her a few times. Jack, though... it was like he simply couldn't see the way people were attracted to him.

The list of people who'd had a crush on Jack at some point in time was a long one. There had been Allison, Jo, half of Section Four, two thirds of Section Three, Section Two wasn't admitting anything, all of Section One, Zane, Fargo, Vince, and Eva Thorne. (Section Five didn't like Jack because he'd attempted to arrest them all at least twice.) Nathan didn't include himself in that list because his feelings weren't some minor crush. No, he had to go and fall in love with the oblivious man. Then he had to take three whole months to charm his way into being Jack's friend, followed by another two seducing him because subtle seemed to go over Jack's head... which was probably why Jack had never noticed any of the crushes (short-lived or otherwise) that had been directed his way over the past two-and-half years.

Zoe noticed and she thought it was hilarious. She also approved of Nathan and had helped him in his campaign to woo Jack.

Anyway... Tess was not subtle. At least, not very subtle. Tess was blunt and sarcastic and made Jack laugh and was pretty and blonde and kind of resembled Jack's ex-wife and was thus likely Jack's type... and she was telling Jack all about the meteor shower that Nathan had wanted to ask Jack to watch with him that Friday. Worse, Tess started flirting every time Jack came into a room or got within a ten foot radius of Tess.

Jack, as usual, didn't seem to notice. That was likely the only reason Nathan didn't storm over to Allison and demand that they get rid of Tess since the alien ship turned out to be one of Henry's old toys. (Leave it to Henry to build something so advanced that, years later, it gets mistaken for aliens.) Yet, even though he trusted Jack, Nathan couldn't help the panicky feeling that Tess was trying to steal what was rightfully his. It wouldn't be the first time Tess had done it, after all.

When Nathan first met Tess, she and Allie were just old friends. When she saw how attracted Nathan was to Allison and deciding that she didn't particularly like Nathan, Tess dated Allison for a few months before they mutually broke up in order to be 'just friends.' By then, Nathan had begun dating a guy named Alec Hunter. Tess started wooing the guy, who inevitably became attracted to her, realized he was bi instead of gay, and dumped Nathan for her. Fortunately, Nathan had become friends with Kevin by then and, when he decided to give Allison another try, he had the support he needed from the kid to keep Tess from interfering again.

With a grin on his face, Jack wandered over to Nathan. "So I hear there's a meteor shower this Friday," he drawled, a teasing note in his voice. "I've never actually seen one before."

"We should go," Nathan said, his possessiveness melting away in the face of Jack's comforting presence. So what if Tess was hitting on Jack. Jack wasn't paying the flirting any attention. "I know the perfect place to see the meteors from."

"Sounds great."

The sound of a low hum reached Nathan's ears and his attention turned to the ship. "Do you hear that?"

Jack nodded and he looked over at Allison and Henry. "Hey! Do you guys hear that?" he echoed Nathan's question.

Henry stood up and began walking towards the duo. "What?"

"The ship is powering back up!" Nathan shouted, gesturing for the guards to move in closer to the ship. Who knew what kind of viruses had warped the computer's mainframe in the past twenty years. Nathan just hoped that nothing dangerous was about to walk off that ship.

"A protocol has been initiated to open the door," Tess chimed in from her terminal.

"Initiated?" Allison repeated, traces of fear making her voice grow slightly shrill. "From where?"

"From in there," Tess answered, gesturing at the ship.

As the door started to open, Jack took a step forward, protectively placing himself between Nathan and the ship, though the security guards Nathan had signaled were in front of them all. Then the door finished irising open and a pod-like container dropped down from the ship and opened. White gas of some kind created a sort of dry ice effect, but Nathan could just make out a figure within the fog that stood a few seconds before collapsing.

Maybe Tess was about to get her aliens after all. Then again, as Jack observed in surprise, the visitor appeared to be human.

Allison ordered the guards to hold their fire as Henry walked up to identify who, or what, they were dealing with. As the air cleared, Henry knelt down and took a good look at their newcomer's face.

"It's Kim."

Everyone seemed to burst into a flurry of words and activity. But Nathan felt distanced from it all. He simply couldn't believe it. That person couldn't be Kim.

Kim was dead and it was his fault. So Kim couldn't be there.

Beverly Barlowe may have been the one who'd sabotaged the experiment, but Nathan should have known something was wrong and shut down the experiment. But he hadn't known and the experiment hadn't been shut down and Kim... she paid the price, along with Henry.

It didn't matter than Henry didn't blame him. Nathan blamed himself enough for the both of them.

Then Nathan's thoughts were interrupted as Jack stepped back and took Nathan's hand in his. No one else seemed to notice the way Nathan froze as the identity of their 'otherworldly' visitor was announced. Jack didn't say anything. He just ran his thumb over Nathan's knuckles slowly, moved so that their shoulders were touching, and leaned his head against Nathan's shoulders.

Letting out a deep breath, Nathan felt himself go back to normal. He could deal with this no matter what happened next as long as Jack was there by his side.

A/N – I have an evil plot for a full redux of this episode and it'll be nothing like this one-shot. Muahahaha... (chokes on maniacal laughter)


	10. What If

Disclaimer – I don't own _Eureka_... but Nate's mine... sort of...

Author - Emcey

A/N – I've had a few people ask me (at least one reviewer, Kit, and a few friends of mine who read my stories cause they like me) what Nathan Stark's reaction would be to Nate Columbus (the organic computer version of Nathan that I used as a Kim 2.0 replacement) and Nate's relationship with Jack, assuming Nathan and Allie got remarried without the _I Do, Over_ complications.

So here's a possible reaction...

Teaser – Nathan had never been one to worry about the path not taken... (AU for my Nate Universe)

Pairings – Jack/Nate, Nathan/Allison

_**What If**_

The day after the Columbus landed, the ship opened up and released Nate, a human/organic computer hybrid that looked just like Nathan. Nathan had been shocked, to say the least, but he also felt inexplicably defensive of Nate when people treated him like he was _just_ a machine.

After a few days, Nathan had to admit to himself that Nate reminded him somewhat of Callister. It was like Nate was his second chance to do what he couldn't in the past: help an artificially created intelligence prove that it (or he, in this case) deserved the same rights as any other sentient being. And, once the data from Nate was collected, Nate was officially put into the records as Nate Columbus, son of Henry Deacon and Kim Yamazaki, a citizen of the United States of America with all the rights that come with citizenship.

Nathan was excited for Nate's achievement, though he'd been too busy with Allison and their newborn to have all that much to do with Nate. It was Jack and Henry who'd gone to bat for Nate, really, and he seemed to get along with them the best. Henry was the one Nate went to for advice. Jack was the one Nate went to to have fun or get help. Nathan was... kind of irrelevant.

That didn't bother Nathan much. He was content with his life just the way it was. There was no reason he could possibly conceive of to want anything else. Sure, there had been times before he and Allie got back together that he'd considered pursuing a relationship with Jack Carter, but Allie was a safer choice and they were happy together. Nathan was glad to be with her; he wouldn't have had his beautiful baby daughter if he'd never gotten back with Allison.

Yet, having turned the corner to find Jack and Nate liplocked in a lab, Nathan couldn't help but stare.

Nathan had never been one to worry about the path not taken... he was perfectly content with his life. It was just... was there more to life than being merely content?

As Nathan finally passed by the lab, he wondered if, in another life, his daughter Jenna might have had a step-sister named Zoe...

A/N – Honestly, I always thought that Nathan getting back together with Allison was a mistake. They never really sat down and tried to work out the problems that ended their marriage the first time. It was only the circumstances surrounding Kevin's 'illness' that brought them back together and I felt that, eventually, they'd wind up divorced again. There's a big difference between being content and being happy; I guess that's where I was going with this. Nathan is content to be back with Allison and to be a father to Kevin and Jenna, but Allison's not necessarily the person who makes him truly happy and Nathan's starting to realize that he may have missed out on something by playing it safe.


	11. Just a Little Different

Disclaimer – I do not own _Eureka_.

A/N – I'm sure I wasn't the only person who thought of this...

Author – Emcey_Squared

_**Just a Little Bit Different**_

"SARAH, are you there?" Jack had hesitated a moment, afraid that the answer would be silence. The interior of the Bunker was mildly different; there was no telling just what had changed.

"Yes, Sheriff," Sarah responded and Jack nearly sighed in relief.

Maybe it was just the little things that were different. After all, a bronze statue instead of a granite statue wasn't that big a deal, right? And the new furniture arrangement wasn't all that different from the old arrangement. It even looked nicer. However, there was one very important question he needed answered. As SARAH shut the door behind him, Jack started walking towards the living area. "SARAH, is, ah... is Zoe still at Harvard?"

"Of course she is, Jack."

Jack froze. That was not SARAH's voice. It wasn't Tess' either, which would have been less surprising.

"Where else would she be?"

The last time Jack heard that voice in person, the man had said "see you around, Jack." It seemed that he hadn't been lying after all. Turning to face the couch, Jack couldn't quite keep the shock off his face as he saw Nathan Stark lounging on his couch.

No... not _his _couch. _Their_ couch. The ring on the Stark's finger and the look in his eyes said that much.

Nathan had never been slow on the uptake. Staring at Jack with growing worry, the scientist straightened up and asked, "Jack, what's wrong?"

Later, Jack would vehemently deny that he fainted. He merely... passed out in a manly fashion.

_**On the Other Side of the Equation**_

When Nathan Stark appeared in the Bunker on Founder's Day, Jack was determinedly considering all the ways he could get out of doing Fargo's bidding concerning the exhibition. Though the sudden appearance of Nathan Stark was unexpected, Jack was just as resigned to the idea of Stark's reappearance as he was relieved and happy. After all, he'd liked Nathan and been attracted to the handsome scientist; but the relationship between Nathan and Allison had effectively blocked Jack from finding love with either one of them.

Yet, it kind of figured that the annoying scientist had managed to come back to life. It also figured that the man would choose Jack's home, of all places, to pull off his reappearing act.

"Jack..." The way Stark was staring at Jack spoke volumes, but not nearly so much as the shocked, almost awe-struck way he'd whispered Jack's name. This wasn't the response of a man who'd died on his wedding day to Allison Blake. This was the response of a man looking at someone he'd cared for and lost.

"Jack..." Nathan repeated, taking a step forward to bridge the distance between them. "You're alive..." Nathan put his hand on Jack's cheek and then drew him into a searing kiss that, after a moment of frozen panic, Jack couldn't help but reciprocate.

He'd worry about figuring out how to explain all this to Allison later.

A/N – Once I see the second episode of the season, I'm going to see about turning one of those two into the prologue of a longer story. I haven't decided which one, yet.

Also, does anyone else share my feelings of instant-like for Grace? The moment I saw her, I thought that finally Henry would have a chance of moving on... and that was before they wound up married at the end of the episode. I love the look on his face as he's staring at the wedding band; he's clearly wondering 'what the hell? I barely know her name!'


	12. Feeling Green

Disclaimer – _Eureka_ is owned by people who are not me.

Author – Emcey

A/N – Well, I'm working on expanding _On the Other Side of the Equation_ into a longer story – not only did that seem to be the one people were interested in seeing expanded, it's the one that I'd rather work with. However, I'm going to run it differently than the show because I'm not sure I like this new season all that much. It's okay, but it... it lacks the awesomeness of seasons one and two. Don't even get me started on what they're doing with Jo and Zane, though. Jo's character development is stellar, but if she doesn't eventually wind up with Zane...

But the story will have to wait until I'm done with the _FF8 _fanfic I'm co-writing with Kit. I'll try and finish up my third Nate story then, too.

I like Tess... but I also dislike her. It depends on the episode, not unlike with Allison, who has a tendency towards wishy-washiness that Kit and I have noted before. In this particular story, Tess gets to be disliked.

Teaser – Nathan really hated out of town business meetings, but this one had to be the worst. It really figured that he only had to be gone for a week for Tess to show up and start moving in on Jack.

_**Feeling Green **_

Nathan rolled his eyes as Fargo's bowling ball split in half, taking down the two final bowling pins in a move that would have been illegal anywhere other than Eureka. Fortunately for Fargo the entire game had been filled with various, similar displays and both teams were ignoring the point of playing a game by the actual rules. The Area 51 contingent was, thankfully, graceful in their loss... or they were until Fargo and the rest proved completely incapable of being equally graceful winners.

"I love this town," Nathan heard Jack muttered as he made his way through the crowd to stand beside the handsome Sheriff. "Nathan, welcome back," Jack added in a more audible tone as soon as he noticed the dark haired scientist.

"It's good to be back," Nathan responded, "though I'm glad I missed out on the bowling preparations. Fargo always takes things a little too far when it comes to competitions."

"I noticed," was the dry response.

"Lunch was boring in DC," Nathan offered after a moment of quiet. The two of them had been meeting for lunch at least once a week since Eva left town, though by now they typically met up nearly every day.

Jack smiled and nodded. "Yeah... well, we've already missed lunch for today, but..." he trailed off with a disgruntled expression on his face as a familiar blonde woman walked up.

"Sheriff," Tess chirped. "Just the man I was looking for," she added flirtatiously.

Nathan scowled. He really hated out of town business meetings, but this one had to be the worst. It really figured that he only had to be gone for a week for Tess to show up and start moving in on Jack. "Tess," he greeted gruffly.

"Oh, hi Nathan. It's good to see you," Tess responded, oblivious to Nathan's unhappiness over her arrival. "How was that conference you were at?"

"About as unproductive as usual," he drawled.

"Well, at least now you're back. Jack," she turned away from Nathan dismissively and smiled charmingly at Carter, "there's been some sort of fire in Section 3. The scientists involved are apparently up in arms over it, so Allison asked me to get you."

Nathan bristled as Tess tried to cut him out of the conversation.

"I'm surprised she didn't call me herself," Jack responded, though he nodded at her in acknowledgment of her news. "Nathan... if you don't mind waiting a little while, we could make up for lunch by having dinner together," Jack offered, his blue eyes more intense than Nathan could ever recall seeing before.

"Sounds great," Nathan responded. "It shouldn't take too long to deal with a fire; I'll wait here until you get back." He couldn't believe how nonchalant he managed to sound about the whole thing. Internally, Nathan's heart was pounding. Was this a date or was it a 'just friends' sort of deal? Nathan didn't even know whether or not Jack was bi...

"It's a date, then," Jack responded and Nathan's face lit up in a relieved grin.

"A date," Nathan echoed. He didn't even notice the way Tess practically turned green from envy. As Jack turned and started towards his Jeep, Nathan couldn't help but mentally echo the man's earlier sentiment. Sometimes, he really loved this town...


End file.
